Gil de Ferran earned his second victory of the IRL IndyCarTM Series season on July 19, winning the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The 200-lap race ended under caution due to a crash by 2000 season champion Buddy Lazier in Turn 2 on Lap 199. Lazier was unhurt.
De Ferran averaged 137.679 mph in the No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone for his fourth career series victory. He led 49 laps, one of eight lap leaders in a race that featured plenty of wheel-to-wheel duels on the 1.33-mile concrete oval.
ll tell you, it was a fantastic race today de Ferran saidThe car was very good all day, either in traffic or by himself. The stops, even though we had that little problem there on the first one, they were absolutely spot-on. Especially the last stop, which was crucial to get me out ahead of the Ganassi cars
MBNA Pole winner Scott Dixon finished second in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone, his fifth consecutive top-six finish.
De Ferras teammate, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, finished third in the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone. Rookie Dan Wheldon finished a career-best fourth in the No. 26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone.
Defending Nashville winner Alex Barron rounded out the top five in his first race as a substitute for the injured Felipe Giaffone in the No. 21 Hollywood Mo Nunn Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone.
De Ferran had been a model of consistency since winning the Indianapolis 500 in May, with three consecutive third-place finishes entering this event. But this victory not only delivered a winnes check of $113,500, but it pulled him past Dixon into second in the series point standings, just 14 points behind leader Tony Kanaan. Dixon fell to third, 15 points behind Kanaan.
The climb toward the top is even more remarkable considering de Ferran missed the Indy Japan 300 in April at Motegi due to an injury suffered in the Purex Dial Indy 200 in March in Phoenix.
You know, I never really lost heart, saidIs all gone de Ferran saidRacing is racing, man. Things change, things happen. The likelihood of you having two or three bad results in a 16-race season is very high. So I guess I felt likeOK, we had our two bad results out of the way early on
From there on, I mean, everythins been great, with the exception of Texas, which we weret particularly strong. Every other race, we were very strong. Is nice to have everything come together again for a win
Kanaan finished ninth in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, his first finish outside the top five since crashing out of the Indy Japan 300 in 14th in April. His series lead has eroded from 49 to 15 points in the last month.
It wast a good night for us Kanaan saidI think we ran out of luck tonight, to be honest, because there were just so many things that happened. It would be one thing, and then I would sayOK, we got a break. Now, les go racing But then it would be something else, so it was a frustrating night
De Ferras had opposite emotions after the race before a sellout crowd, as he sangTake Me Out to the Ballgam in winnes circle. Is becoming a signature tune for de Ferran, as he first sang it during the seventh-inning stretch of the Chicago Cubs-Florida Marlins game July 7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Hs already doneTake Me Out to the BallgameWake Up Little SusieFalling in Love With You Castroneves saidMan, the sks the limit with CDs, records
Lazies late crash in the No. 91 Delta Faucet/Life Fitness Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone spoiled any chance Dixon had of hunting down de Ferran. Lazier spun on Lap 194 to trigger a caution with de Ferran in first and Dixon in second.
After the restart at the end of Lap 196, Dixon stayed within one-half second of de Ferran until Lazies crash.
De Ferran took the lead for good on Lap 173 after Tora Takagi made his final pit stop in the No. 12 Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone.
Varying pit strategies abounded in this race, jumbling the running order often and keeping the suspense on the boil for most of the race. De Ferran, Dixon and Castroneves each made their final stops on Lap 131. Wheldon went the final 86 laps without pitting, making his final stop on Lap 114. Kanaan made his final stop on Lap 172.
It was kind of a real strange race Dixon saidEverybody was doing different things and strategy. Then we had the end there to save fuel. It was just bizarre. That last stint, we were down to the cords on our tires, so we were done
The next IRL IndyCar Series race is the Firestone Indy 400 on Sunday, July 27 at Michigan International Speedway. The next IRL Infiniti Pro Series race is Michigan 100 on Sunday, July 27 at Michigan International Speedway.
