de Ferran Motorsports made an impressive entrance to the supposedly competitive LMP2 class in round four of the 2008 American Le Mans Series, scoring a podium finish on debut with Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud at Miller Motorsport Park
A last lap spin in qualifying on Saturday forced owner-driver de Ferran to relinquish his front row starting position - moving to the back of the pack with fresh rubber - but the former Indy 500 winner swiftly moved through the pack, gaining more track position when electing to not to pit under the first safety car period.
de Ferran had moved the #66 Acura ARX-01b prototype into the LMP2 class lead after 73 minutes, before handing over to Pagenaud, and the young Frenchman continued the team's strong pace, setting the fastest lap of the race and moving into the race lead at the two hour and five minute mark. The team was battling radio communication problems, but Pagenaud managed to make his final stop five minutes later for fuel and tyres, handing back over to his boss before the final stint, in which the Panasonic ELS Sound Acura moved back through the pack to be third at the chequered flag.
"It really was a great day for us," de Ferran enthused, "To get on the podium and finish so close to the leader is a fantastic result. I had to be careful coming from the back of the pack, but the car certainly had good speed. The first yellow was a little too early for us, but the end result is outstanding –- I couldn't be more pleased.
"Simon did a brilliant job at the finish but, for me, sitting on the pit wall, the final ten minutes seemed to take forever. I ran a little conservatively and watched the traffic pretty closely, but it feels great to get back behind the wheel again. I had to run off the racing line several times to pass the slower cars and that was a little different
after racing open-wheel cars for so many years, but the car was coming back to me in the later stages of my stint, and I was able to close up on [Luis] Diaz before my pit-stop.
"I told everyone that Simon was a tremendous driver and he proved it today. He made up great amount of time to close in on the Penske cars at the finish. We got a little unlucky with the yellow flags today. but I felt great. It was my first time in a car in nearly five years and, to finish on the podium is a tremendous feeling.”
"We now have a large break before the next race at Lime Rock, so we will have plenty of opportunity to regroup, take a breath and put some more testing miles under our belt to be even better prepared for our second race."
Former Champ Car star Pagenaud drove a mature first race in a Le Mans prototype to move from fifth to the overall lead by lap 70. A pit-stop for fuel and tyres on lap 74 put the de Ferran machine back to fifth with 22 laps remaining but, despite being more than a minute behind the leading Penske entry, the 24-year old French driver cut the margin to 26.8secs by the flag.
