On the eve of last year’s ALMS season, at the 12 hours of Sebring endurance race, Mobil 1 the Grid caught up with Brazilian Indy 500 winner and new ALMS team owner Gil de Ferran…

How did you become a team owner in the American Le Mans Series?

Well I think it was er, one of those things that er, opportunity meets desire. You know, I certainly, erm, given my relationship with, with Honda and consequently with Acura that spans for, since the mid nineties really. I knew there of Acura's plans to expand er their involvement in sports car racing last year. Erm, we started talking you know, and, and I felt that it was really an ideal opportunity er, to set up a team and be a part of the Acura motor sports program.

Was it a logical step after retiring from Indy Car?

Well…I guess erm… I felt it was a step that I was ready to make you know, I mean since I, I retire from being a full time professional driver in ’03, I worked on the media a little bit er, here in the US, er, and I also helped Honda in their F1 programme for just over two years, er being the sporting director of the F1 operation. And, I, you know, felt like those experiences certainly helped me a lot in making this er, this next step.

How did you enjoy that time with Honda in F1?

I, I have to say I enjoyed it you know, erm, I think Formula One er, tends to attract some very intelligent and, and interesting people and when you’re dealing with those people er, on a daily basis er, it’s enriching and you’re always learning something and er, it was er, it was a very good er, very good experience for me.

Are you pleased that the Honda team has a new lease of life in the form of Brawn GP?

Well I think it’s great you know, er frankly I have to say that I always had a very high opinion of, of the race team itself you know, which, were the people that I, that I dealt with the most. Erm, you know, team manager, the race engineers and so on and so forth. I well, I know there’s a lot of good people there you know, and er, and I’m happy that they were able to, to continue and keep their jobs and er, and hopefully they’ll, they’ll be successful on the race track.

So as well as being team owner, you are also going to drive the car?

Well you know, in my prior life in my relationship with Honda I was er, their, their development driver, and we struck on a very good er relationship, not only with, with the management of Honda, but also with the HPD engineers. Er, a lot of them which are driving er, sorry working for, for the same program but the Acura program now and erm, I think given their history, going back to a similar role kinda makes sense to me and it also made sense to them so, since last year I’ve been heavily involved in the, shall I say, technical development of the car and the engine, er together with the Acura engineers, and erm, and it’s a role that I have enjoyed very much before and that, and I’m enjoying it again but I, I, I have to say I see this, this phase of my life in a very different light that, that er, when I, when I was just a driver you know, and erm, you know, this is not me trying to relive the dream, ha, as a driver you know, the important thing here for me is, is the health of the team and, and yeah, and turning the team into a viable business.

How difficult is it to perform both roles?

I have to say that’s been one of my greatest challenges you know, I have tried to, hire personnel of the highest calibre, really and create an environment where, you know, people are encouraged to stand on their own two feet and, and, and have a high degree of independence. Essentially to allow me to concentrate on the driving, particularly on the, on race weekends you know, so er, driving requires very strong and single focus and team management requires exactly the opposite. You know, you got, you gotta keep all the balls in the air and so on and so forth. One is tugging on the other, but my solution to this is, is really when it comes er, erm, to race weekend, I try to forget that I own the team, and then I think that I’m just a driver.

What are your goals for the new team?

Well I mean, one step at a time er, really I mean er, I was very proud of what we were able to accomplish last year, erm… and I think so far we’ve been, hundred per cent focused on, on getting the er, ready here for Sebring you know, I mean this, this P1 program with er Acura is a very ambitious one. Er, the car is brand new from the ground up. Fantastic er, design and er, in a way a very revolutionary design and er, but because of that, not without its challenges. So er, we’ve been working very very hard, er, leading up to, to Sebring, and completely focus on, on Sebring, and, and frankly, you know, I’m not, setting any goals or anything like that. All I, all I can tell you is that, we certainly don’t go racing to finish second or third or anything like that, well, come the day we’ll give it our, our best shot, but up until that day we’ve just got to worry about the issues that we have on, at hand, and try to make as much progress as possible.

What first got you interested in motor racing?

I have to say, when I was a kid, I had this fascination with cars. I love the cars, you know, I guess erm, perhaps all the drivers at the driving heroes and so on and so forth, for me I just love the cars and er, being around cars that to me were always, they look like works of art on wheels and they look exciting, they look beautiful and erm, and that was my major attraction you know. From that point onwards I wanted to drive you know, and I started driving you know, when I was very young, I was five or six, erm, but like I say, enjoyed it. I thought it was fun and all that. I only started racing though when I was fourteen and er, and then, what I, what I really liked about racing was that you can always get a little better, you know, and I enjoy the process of really pushing yourself more and more and more and more. In a way, obviously you are competing against others, but you are also competing against yourself. And I ho- I really enjoy the whole thing and the sensation of driving on the limit is something that, is hard, harder to express unless you’ve done it before.

When did you realize you could make a living out of racing?

Well, frankly it was my hobby, you know, when I was a teenager, you know, like er, you know, a lot of kids go play football er, on the weekend and er, whatever of the sports there, they may er, take, have a [liking to], you know, I used to go to school during the week and, come, come the weekend and go racing somewhere and the, in Sao Paulo in the countryside of Sao Paulo, the regional championships and so on and so forth. And erm, I won a few car team championships and I moved up to formula Ford in Brazil and I won the, Brazilian formula ford championship er, while er, I was starting to be, become an engineer. And I have to say still at that point, you know, the whole idea was to, for me to get a proper job. And er, but you know, given the success er, I, I had up until that point, I thought, you know, maybe I, I’m going to give him a go. You know, I’m going to try to make a career out of this and I managed to raise enough sponsorship in Brazil. And erm, I went to England. And erm, try my hand over there, honestly with the intent of er, trying to make a career out of it, so, and that was back in erm, 1988. Eventually, I started to figure out how to make a career out of things, I was nineteen years old.

In the early days what was your ultimate goal career wise?

Well at that stage I wanted to be a Formula One driver you know,, erm, back in the er, late 80’s er, early, early 90’s. erm, coming to America, er, really, only started to become a, a, a reality for me, when I won the erm, when I won the British Formula 3 championship in ’92. And Nigel Mansell was world champion, and Emerson Fittipaldi was really starting to become a big star, here in, in North America. And er, in the Indy car championship at the time was also growing in stature internationally, a huge amount you know, it was very prominent championship. And when Nigel Mansell came to race over here as the current world, world champion in ’93 I thought well, if it was good enough for the current world champion it must be good enough for me. So er, really from that day onwards, I, I had a long conversation with Emerson, who was very kind to me at the time er, and, and really explained to me a lot about er, the US scene. I’ve visited here a couple of times but er, I started to think of Indy car racing and as a, as a very serious er, er, career.

And although you didn’t get to race in F1 you quickly decided to pursue a different direction…

Yeah absolutely I mean in ’94. I was leading the formula 3000 championship halfway through the year. And er, I was talking to a few Formula One teams and a few Indy car teams because in my mind those were the, my two either or, next er, next step. You know, and Jim Hall invited me to do a test, er, early ’94. I did the test, the test went very well and I broke the lap record in a, in a little track in Texas, and a couple of months later, even before the 3000 championship finished, he offered me a ride. Erm, and I have no, you know, I didn’t really hesitate, you know, I knew, erm, that Jim was, was a basically a legend in our sport. There was a serious operation that, if I did the right job behind the wheel, I knew I could challenge for, for top positions and er, that’s exactly what happened.

What were those Champ Car years like with Penske Racing?

Er, I, I refer back to those years, probably some of the best years in my life and I’m, not, not only from my professional stand point but from a, from a personal standpoint. And I was able to, fulfil erm, I guess my potential. Erm, I had a fantastic relationship with Roger, and er, and the whole team. And, it was, they were great four seasons, er, that we were to, together. You know, I wish, I wish I could have joined the team at perhaps early in my career but that never happened. But the, when er, when I was there it was, it was great I mean, with the four seasons together, I won two championships, should have won four, but, but er, you know, it wasn’t, for a, for a few accidents, I won a, an Indy 500, finished second in another 500. they were fantastic years, and to this day you know, I, I can at least I’m sure I can call Roger my friend, and I have a lot of friends within the Penske race.

How has your 2003 Indy 500 win affected your life?

Quite highly I have to say- you know, it’s a, as, as, I guess, any Indy 500 will, winner will tell you you know, this life pre- being an Indy 500 winner and like post being a 500 winner. You know, I think er, it, it’s interesting I was er, recently at a, a centennial dinner, commemoration in Indianapolis. And there was a, there was a common theme amongst all the, the past winners there. That once you become an Indy 500 winner, that’s always how you were introduced to, to anyone, or to any crowd, and so on and so forth. And that tells you something. Er, that tells you what the meaning of the, of that race is. Erm, within the psyche of, of the fans, and the people that love motorsports, not only North America but around the world.

What do you do to relax away from the race track?

Erm, I, I enjoy being at home! Ha ha. You know, frankly. And hanging around, at, at home you know, I er, you ride with good travel a lot, you know, erm, part of my life is in the UK, part of my life is in the, in the, in Indianapolis, some time in California, traced in racing and so on and so forth. So I’m in an aeroplane at least once a week, sometimes two or three times a week. And er, there’s a good side of this, is you get a lot of exposure to different cultures, different people and different things and that’s interesting but, but I have to say that er, not sleeping in your bed for any length of time it sometimes gets a little old. So er, when want to relax I just park myself at home, you know, do my exercises, do my cooking, barbeque, go to the beach, swim you know, and, and nothing special.

We’ve heard rumours of a possible Indy Car project, any truth in that?

Well I, I think there’s a natural bond there between er, me and er, Indy car racing. I’ve been given my, my history er, with, with the sport. Erm, and you know, we believe that er, we can do a better job if we grow. Not only er, we can increase our resources, erm, and become a better team from a technical standpoint which is frankly what we’re all about you know… we’re all about engineering and development, and so on and so forth so, we can have er, better engineering, resources if we grow a little bigger, but also there will be economies of scale, er you know, a lot of the fixed costs that you have, erm, for one car, is the same that you have for two or three or, or four different teams so. I think that there’s a variety of reasons that it would perhaps make sense for us to grow our team, not only perhaps within the American Le Mans series but also you can work the series like Indy cars. Having said all that you know, we’re only do something if it, if it makes sense, and if we can er, er, do things the way we like to do it… them.

So finally, how long do you think you’ll carry on in motor racing?

I think, if you look at my driving career now, whichever way you look at it, I’m 41. that is a short term proposition. You know? Er I’m not going to be driving I don’t think until my 70’s, so… but hopefully the team will survive, and flourish for many years to come.