De Ferran wants more wins

Mike Harris

Thursday, March 8, 2001 | 8:23 a.m.

MONTERREY, Mexico - Winning the CART championship last year only whetted Gil de Ferran's appetite for more.

"I never had any doubt that this team could be a factor in the championship," said de Ferran, who helped take the elite Penske Racing team back to the top of Champ Car racing.

The Brazilian won last year - his sixth in the series and first with Penske - by being the most consistent driver in an amazingly competitive series, scoring points in 15 of 20 events. Going into Sunday's season-opening Tecate Telmex Grand Prix, de Ferran hopes for more of the same.

But he'd like to win more, too.

"Last year, this team worked very hard to find that consistency, to run up front and to finish races," he said. "We know how to do all that, so now we'd like to win more races."

Despite starting in the top five 16 times in 2000, de Ferran won just twice.

"We could have won maybe four or five more, but something always seemed to happen to put us back, and it was always something different," he said.

Still, what could keep de Ferran from winning more in 2001 is the intense competition he will face in the far-reaching 21-race schedule that begins in Fundidora Park, near the downtown area of this heavily industrial city of more than 3 million people.

Last fall, eight drivers were in the championship chase with three races remaining, and five still had a shot at the season finale in Fontana, Calif. De Ferran wrapped up the crown with a third-place finish in a race where only six of 28 starters were running at the end.

His teammate, Helio Castroneves, had a breakthrough year with his first three CART wins and could challenge de Ferran for the 2001 title.

Despite the spectacular competition - or perhaps because of it - there was a major shuffling of drivers this winter, with former champions Michael Andretti and Jimmy Vasser, as well as highly touted Cristiano da Matta changing teams, Adrian Fernandez starting his own team, two-time champ Alex Zanardi returning after a two-year absence and former champ Juan Montoya leaving for Formula One.

"It's kind of a new look this year," said Vasser, who moved from Chip Ganassi's team to join another title contender, Roberto Moreno, at Patrick Racing. "But one thing that's not a bit different - it's going to be just as hard to win."

Andretti, the leading race winner in CART history with 40, left his longtime home at Newman-Haas Racing to join the new Motorola Racing team formed by Barry Green, who also will continue to run a separate two-car operation for returning Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti.

"We're not teammates," Tracy said of Andretti. "They're calling him a technical partner, because our teams will share some information and computer data."

Tracy established himself as a serious title contender last year, while Franchitti got a terribly slow start and never found the chemistry and performance that had made him a preseason favorite.

"Everyone on the team is hungry for a championship, both on my crew and Dario's," Tracy said. "We've won races and been serious contenders for the title the past two years. Now it's time to close the deal."

Fernandez will get plenty of help on his new team from partner Tom Anderson, the team manager who guided Ganassi's drivers to an unprecedented four straight CART titles from 1996-1999.

Zanardi, who won two of those championships, spent a disastrous season in Formula One before taking last year off from racing. There is some question, even in the charismatic Italian's mind, if he can come back with the same kind of talent and drive he had when he left.

"I've only signed a one-year contract with Mo Nunn," Zanardi said. "I need to find out if I am as motivated as I feel I am. If not, I won't stay around."

Team Rahal driver Kenny Brack was another contender last year, while teammate Max Papis got his first career victory in the opener then struggled to remain competitive.

"We'll both be stronger this year," said Brack, a CART rookie in 2000. "Max's team is solid and he just had some bad luck last year. I know most of the tracks now and have been with these guys for a year. It should make a difference."

Da Matta, who joins holdover Christian Fittipaldi at Newman-Haas, also won his first CART race last year as a rookie.

Ganassi, who seems able to come up with new driving stars almost yearly, has replaced Montoya and Vasser with a pair of rookies - Bruno Junqueira of Brazil and Nicolas Minassian of France - from Europe's Formula 3000 series.

Asked if he can still win with rookies in both of his cars, Ganassi replied: "Why not? They're both great racers and the team is very capable. I think we can be a factor again this year."

The big question heading into the opener appears to be: Who won't be a contender this year?

CART: http://www.cart.com