Gil de Ferran, former Brazilian driver and winner of the Indianapolis 500 and two IndyCar titles, died due to a heart attack that occurred on the track while he was racing with his son Luke at the Concourse Club in Florida. The news was confirmed to the Associated Press by several former teammates. Ferran pulled over during the race saying he was not feeling well. He was assisted and taken to the nearest hospital where he later died.
The Career
With his move to Penske in 2000, the driver won two world titles before leaving the CART category at the end of 2001. On October 28, 2000, during the Marlboro 500 qualifying race at the California Speedway, de Ferran set the fastest lap at an average record speed of 388.537 km/h (241.426 mph), which is the world record for the lap with the highest average speed ever set in any closed circuit competition. In 2002, he moved to IRL with Penske, but had a bad accident in the race on the Chicago circuit where he forfeited the last races of the season. In 2003, he won the Indianapolis 500, and at the end of the season, he announced his retirement from racing. In 2005, the Brazilian was elected sports director of BAR, but left the position at the end of 2007. In 2008, de Ferran announced his team's participation in the American Le Mans Series. In 2014, de Ferran participated in the first Formula E championship. Since July 2018, he has been a sportsman for McLaren in Formula 1, replacing Éric Boullier. He left the team in 2021.
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