RACING legend Gil de Ferran has died at the age of 56, his teammates have confirmed.
The 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner died Friday while racing with his son, Luke, at the Concourse Club in Opa-Locka, Florida.
Both men were taking a lesson at the club when De Ferran walked by and said he wasn’t feeling well.
His colleague Tony Kanaan said De Ferran suffered a seizure at the center and could be revived.
“We are extraordinarily saddened to be informed of the tragic loss of Gil de Ferran,” Roger Penske, owner of the Penske team and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said in a statement. “Our minds and prayers are with Angela, Anna, Luke and all of Ferran’s family. “
De Ferran won the Indy 500 for Team Penske, making it the third consecutive victory at Penske’s “greatest spectacle in racing. “
“Gil explained elegance as a driver and a gentleman. As an IndyCar champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, Gil has accomplished a lot in his career.
“He enjoyed so many and is a wonderful friend to the Team Penske family circle and the entire foreign motorsports community. This is a tragic loss and he will be deeply missed. “
Kanaan told The Associated Press he was “devastated” by De Ferran’s death.
“He’s one of my most productive friends and we grew up together and over the last few years we’ve been racing together at McLaren,” he told the outlet.
“At the beginning of this year, he was a mentor, he was helping me. I lost a very valuable friend. I’m devastated. I must say that he followed Gil’s path, driving a race car. If I can decide on a path forward, that’s what I can do. “
Marco Andretti Ferran, “one of the genuine”.
“One of the reasons for my F1 testing. I enjoyed your love and love for our sport. Thank you for what you have brought to my life,” he wrote on X, formerly as Twitter.
De Ferran was born on November 11, 1967 in Paris, France, and began his career in kart racing in the early 1980s.
He won the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car titles driving Penske, as well as the 2003 Indy 500 with Penske.
De Ferran also finished runner-up in LMP1 Elegance at the American Le Mans Series in 2009 at the wheel of his own company, Ferran Motorsports.
He set the closed-course land speed record at CART with a lap of 241. 428 mph at California Speedway in 2000; The feat continues to this day.
He won seven CART races and IndyCar races, completing second place in the 2003 standings.
De Ferran joined Team Penske in 2000.
Fellow Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi inspired de Ferran to start his career in karting before going into the European ladder system.
He lost the British Formula 3 name to Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard in 1991, and would go on to gain the name the following season.
He is survived by his wife, Angela, and their two children, Ana and Luke.
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