Despite his accomplishments in an illustrious career, de Ferran still is looking for his first Mid-Ohio win. The former Indianapolis 500 and CART champion hopes that becomes a reality this weekend in just the third race for de Ferran Motorsports. The Brazilian placed second and won pole positions at Mid-Ohio with Penske in 2000 and 2001 and would like nothing more than to score Acura's second straight overall victory at one of his favourite tracks - especially as it would involve beating his former employer.
"I've been saying since I started that these cars behave very similarly to open-wheel cars," de Ferran said, "You learn to attack the track in nearly the same way. You take a lot of speed into the turns and braking what seems impossibly late in these cars.
"Acura has done a great job of improving the car this year. The chassis is really well-balanced and really is a confidence-inspiring car. They also have done a good job on the engine, the traction control and some of the other little bits. Highcroft has done a fantastic job this year too, but we hope to be next. We've shown we have the speed, but we haven't had quite the luck yet."
Remarkably, Dyson Racing was out for Thursday's test session only a day after receiving a brand new tub for its #16 Porsche RS Spyder. The Guy Smith/Chris Dyson car was a write-off following a crash at last weekend's Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park and, with only four days to get to Mid-Ohio, the Dyson crew had to do the usual pre-race set-up work in the paddock and make repairs to the other car of Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti, which had suspension damage after a late-race incident with a Penske Racing Porsche.
"The tub was delivered Wednesday to the track," said a proud Dyson, "Our guys did a fantastic job of getting the car put together and ready. Porsche did an excellent job too, having the car and technicians here. We're very glad to be back out and running again."
