CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 9, 2001

Gil de Ferran

GIL de FERRAN: Thank you very much.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, I don't know about that. I certainly you know, we had a two good races in a row here and obviously the last two have been extremely good, but I feel like we have been going pretty fast since the beginning of the year and we were just having a lot of misfortune, I would say, earlier on this year, something that's not really happening lately, you know, this late stage in the season. We have been more able to transform the speed into good qualifying positions and then into good race results. I don't feel like I have been performing much differently, if you see what I mean.

GIL de FERRAN: Yeah, at Laguna Seca is one of my favorite tracks I have to say. Certainly I have a little bit of a soft spot with it since it's where I won my very first race back in 1995 and, I think together with the Elkhart Lake it's probably one of my favorite circuits in the whole world actually. Last year it was a race that we did fairly well, finished second there last year, and we're hoping to have a good showing over there.

GIL de FERRAN: Not really. Certainly it's quite unique with the elevation changes and all that. But I don't -- you know, there's nothing that I do particularly different over there.

GIL de FERRAN: Very well. (Laughs) Our relationship remains very good and I said that before and I think to a lot of peoples' surprise I said if I am able to win this thing I'd rather it was him that put the Championship under his belt because I think, you know, we both would really like to do it for the team because I think the feeling that we both have towards the team is a mutual feeling. It's of -- you know, I certainly love this team and I think they deserve to get a win in this Championship and hopefully with me, but if it isn't with me then hopefully it's with Helio. I have to say that there hasn't been a dent in our relationship at all.

GIL de FERRAN: I don't really understand.

GIL de FERRAN: No, no betting. There's another state there, we don't need anymore bets... (Inaudible).

GIL de FERRAN: I think in my mind the question is way beyond the engine choice. I think in the end of the day I still feel the need that we unify the top echelon of open-wheel racing in the United States. I think, you know, it's becoming clearer as the years go by that the public in general has a hard time understanding this division and I think, therefore, unifying open-wheel racing in this country is of primary importance. So that the whole sport can grow to levels that -- to levels that are much higher than they are today. I think this engine choice should reflect that philosophy. I think that's only certainly only one small piece of the puzzle there, but perhaps an important one.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, I kind of say that -- I cannot state exactly that. I certainly would say to you that my first love with motor racing was through road racing generally speaking, you know, being a street circuit racing or permanent road course racing that's how I fell in love with the sport in the first place. I certainly lost none of my love for driving this type of racetrack and I don't think I ever will to be quite honest with you. However, ovals are a relatively new thing in my career, you know, it's only started driving them in 1995 and I have to say that today I very much enjoy driving them too. I am not so sure I would like to give them up too. I very much enjoy driving ovals. I find them very, very challenging. It's such a foreign discipline to what I started -- how I started that I have to say to do well on them, it's a big challenge for me and one that I enjoy.

GIL de FERRAN: Yeah, that's the whole idea. (Laughs) I think certainly we're in good position to fight for the Championship all the way to the end and, you know, that would be nice if I can repeat the Championship and certainly be even nicer if I can finish it off before Fontana, but I am not counting with that at all. I think the competition is very strong and we really -- it would be really difficult to finish the Championship before we get to Fontana.

GIL de FERRAN: I think not really. I think to me what characterizes CART is in my mind, I would classify it as probably one of the most difficult championships to win. I think from a variety of points of view that there becomes, I think, first of all, the cars, because they are extremely powerful, and very fast, they are very difficult to drive and very difficult to master. So that's difficulty level No. 1. I think difficulty level No. 2 is that the series consistently over the years, if you look all the way back, you know, to the early '90s, for example, just to take a pick there, the series had been consistently attracting the top talents from a driving standpoint. You get people like Nigel Mansell, (inaudible) Fittipaldi, Villeneuve, and people that either prove themselves in other series or before or after they have been with CART, so I think that's certainly difficulty level No. 2 there. You are competing against the best drivers, the world has to offer. I think point No. 3 there is the level of the teams are certainly first class. I know that my team, Team Penske is certainly one of the best operations in motor sports who stops, not only in America, but worldwide so and I know that we compete against some pretty tough guys in terms of teams. So I think this, to me, is what characterizes CART. And I think by unifying things you can just -- you just would add to it. You just, you know, increase the depth of teams and of drivers.

GIL de FERRAN: I don't think so because I think in the end of the day you would unify the investment that there exists in this type of racing and raise the level up.

GIL de FERRAN: Thank you very much.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, I think, you know, they are different and at the same time they are not. They are both extremely fast; certainly the IRL cars only run on the ovals, and although they have less power than the CART cars do, they run in a specification that gives them a lot more down-force in the form of grip and the form of cornering speeds. I find them both very, very challenging to drive. Obviously the only way that we can compare them is in the ovals. They are different, but at the same time, similar.

GIL de FERRAN: I really don't know what the answer is to that, really, and I think this is, you know, hopefully something that the bosses of our sports are trying to figure out. But I really I have no idea what the answer would be and I think, you know, as long as the essence of speed and the essence of difficulty and the essence of competitiveness are there, I don't really care what the format is. You know, there's obviously a lot of business decisions or business considerations into making that sort of decision and I have no preconceived idea of what a sporting format should be.

GIL de FERRAN: I have not.

GIL de FERRAN: I think, you know, certainly from a mathematical standpoint I certainly cannot wrap it in Laguna, so if you look at it from there, you have to say that my approach should not change and I don't think it will. You got to really put the point, you know, in the board there, keep adding them up, so I don't think, you know, you can play percentages too much at this point. You really got to do the best you can to score as many points as you can and if that's a victory, you know, if a victory becomes available to me (laughs) then you got to go and take it. It's not yet time to, what can I say, to be thinking about, you know, to drive like I drove in Fontana last year, for example.

GIL de FERRAN: To be honest with you, no. (Laughs) I think it's just as tense this year as it was last year for me primarily because I don't -- I think I have said that before, I don't feel like I am defending the title. I feel like I am trying to win another one and as long as I put myself forward to that task, you know, my will to trying to win this Championship has been the same as it was when I was trying to win that first one. So the desire is the same. The will is the same, and the tension is the same.

GIL de FERRAN: Thank you very much. See you guys at Laguna.