IRL: Fourth in points: Gil de Ferran

PERSONAL:

Driver: Gil de Ferran

Car: No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone

Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil

Residence: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Spouse: Angela

Children: Anna Elizabeth, Luke

2003 SEASON:

Points: 422 (17 behind leader Helio Castroneves)

Place: Fourth

Races: 13 (Missed Motegi due to back injury suffered at Phoenix)

Wins: 2 (87th Indianapolis 500, Nashville) (tied for second)

Top fives: 8 (tied for second)

Top 10s: 11 (tied for first)

MBNA Poles: 0

Laps Led: 337 (fifth)

Laps Completed: 2,640 out of 2,856 (fifth)

Running at the finish: 12 (tied for second)

Earnings: $2,154,415 (first)

Races in points lead: 0

CAREER:

IndyCar Series championships: 0

IndyCar Series wins: 4

IndyCar Series laps led: 968

IndyCar Series starts: 29

IndyCar Series earnings: $3,937,505

Indianapolis 500 victories: 1 (2003)

Other championships: CART (2000, 2001); British Formula 3 (1992); Brazilian Formula Ford (1987); Brazilian karting (1983)

For information about Gil de Ferran's experience at California Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, please log onto www.indycarseries.com.

NOTES:

*Has won seven CART races and four IndyCar Series races during his career.

*Announced Aug. 25 that he would retire following the 2003 IndyCar Series season.

QUOTE:

GIL DE FERRAN: "There's a lot of competition for the IRL championship this year. The points race is very tight. With five drivers in contention to win the title, it's a bit like the 2000 (CART) championship when there were five of us fighting it out at the final race. With only two events to go, each race will be vital. We have to do well in Fontana in order to close the gap on Helio (Castroneves). Ideally, we'll get a win this weekend, which would put Marlboro Team Penske in solid position for Texas. It would be great to win the championship this year so that I could literally end my career at the top."

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