"It is almost unimaginable, but we are here," he said.
Three-year-old Miller Motorsports Park is a long way from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where de Ferran was last in the public consciousness after winning the 2003 Indianapolis 500, but it is here where the legendary driver will make his ALMS debut.
Sunday's Utah Grand Prix (1 p.m., SPEED channel) at MMP will mark de Ferran's first race since he won the last round of the IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in October of 2003 and stunned the motorsports world with the announcement that he was leaving the cockpit.
"At the end of the day, I was looking for a new challenge . . . looking to find a new mountain to climb," he said Wednesday. "I am always putting myself into the deep end of the pool."
Born in Paris to Brazilian parents, de Ferran certainly is in the deep end again with this campaign, which was first discussed late last year. That's the reason the fourth Acura team waited until the fourth round to join the series, missing races at Sebring and St. Petersburg, Fla., and Long Beach, Calif.
"Basically, we weren't ready," de Ferran said at MMP on April 30. "We finalized everything early this year. We have gone from no employees to what we have now, which is [about 20 people] in a matter of a month and a half or so. The fact that we are here running and getting ready for the race is just short of miraculous."
The driver got his first look at MMP that day, but he's not new to Utah. He said his family has been visiting the area every winter since 1999 to ski at Deer Valley, a posh resort about 45 minutes away from Salt Lake City.
"We have been spending Christmas or the New Year here every year. It is my favorite place to go skiing," he said. "Unfortunately, my kids are skiing better than I am now, but I still have a good time."
"The Professor," as he was known in his driving days because of his intense study habits, recorded the fastest official qualifying lap in U.S. racing history with a speed of 241.428 mph at California Speedway in 2001.
Co-piloting with newcomer Simon Pagenaud on Sunday, de Ferran said he won't go that fast.
The driver said he wasn't looking to get back into competitive driving - "I wasn't knocking on Roger Penske's door or anyone else's door for that matter," he said - but one thing turned into another after a conversation with Acura about team ownership last fall, and here he is.
"I certainly missed driving," he said. "It is very hard to find something that replaces that sensation and that strong emotion you have when you are driving a racing car to the limit. . . . I am not sure there is anything else in life like that."
He said LMP2 cars are "not dissimilar" to the cars he drove in the IndyCar Series in terms of performance, horsepower and downforce.
"What has attracted me the most is the cars," he said. "You look at the cars, you can't help but think they are mega-cool, in layman's terms."
drew@sltrib.com
What is the American Le Mans Series?
Patterned after the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France, the American Le Mans Series bills itself as the premier sports car series in North America. Its races feature four classes, or types, of cars racing on the track at the same time piloted by some of the best sports car drivers in the world. A unique leader light system on the sides of the cars enables fans to determine which ones lead their respective classes. Sunday's Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park, 1 p.m., is the fourth stop on an 11-race circuit that annually begins in March with the 12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida and concludes in October with an event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, Calif.
Gil de Ferran file
* Won the 2003 Indianapolis 500, then retired from driving that same year
* Born to Brazilian parents in Paris, de Ferran, 40, makes his American Le Mans Series debut on Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park
* Won CART championships in 2000 and 2001
* Recorded fastest official qualifying lap in U.S. racing history with a speed of 241.428 mph at California Speedway in 2001
