Chris Festa and Pablo Perez Drive Chip Ganassi Racing to Indy Pro Series
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the IndyCar Series Championship in 2003. They enter the Indy Pro Series competition for the first time in the 2007 season with drivers Chris Festa and Pablo Perez. Mike Hull, Managing Director of TCGR spoke recently about what he and his team hope to accomplish in the coming year at the track.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s impressive list of accomplishments in the Indy Racing League includes Indianapolis 500 wins, IRL championships, and multiple race wins, poles and fastest laps.
The one thing they have lacked is a presence in the Indy Pro Series, where other IndyCar Series players have been racking up additional testing days and grooming younger drivers.
Chip Ganassi Racing Enters the Field with Two Cars in 2007
The 2007 Indy Pro Series brings that shortcoming to an end, as TCGR lines up on the grid with not one, but two open-wheel cars in the junior series to IndyCar.
“The Indy Pro Series is right up our alley in terms of what we do with young talent,” said Mike Hull. “We work hard to enhance the value of young drivers, and we've always done that, both in the ranks of open- and closed-wheel racing.”
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Chris Festa. Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL |
Hull is the Managing Director of Chip Ganassi’s team and speaks with confidence about the team’s move into a new arena. They currently are active not only in IndyCar, but both Winston Cup and Busch NASCAR series, and the Grand Am series of sports car racing.
“We have two young drivers, Pablo Perez and Chris Festa, and we're working very hard testing to be prepared to race,” he said.
“We think all the IndyCar Series teams should be running programs like this,” he added.
Indy Pro Series Attracts IndyCar Teams’ Attention to Young Drivers
One of the major benefits of running a program in the Indy Pro Series is teams earn bonus test days for the IndyCar program. The rules also call for Indy Pro Series drivers to get some seat time in the IndyCar Series car during those bonus test days.
The cynics claim the IndyCar teams abuse the IPS rules to get those extra test days without giving due credit to the drivers who’ve helped them earn them. Hull claims this won’t be a problem at TCGR.
“We intend for Chris and Pablo to be part of our test program on a 50/50 basis as the rules are defined during the season when we have an opportunity to test,” he said.
“We’ll be able to look at Pablo and we'll be able to look at Chris as race drivers. We'll be able to look at the engineers that we hired to help us with this program, with the mechanics that help us with this; and with the sponsorship value.”
Atlantan Chris Festa Enters Third Season in IPS with Ganassi Team
Chris Festa will be returning for his third season in the Indy Pro Series.
The Atlanta native has 19 top 10 finishes in 23 starts and a best finish of second in Phoenix in 2005.
“Ganassi does everything 100%, and that's what it takes to win this racing,” said Festa. “It makes me feel very good because I know I'm going to have great cars underneath me and great personnel looking after me to give me the best opportunity to put it down on the racetrack.”
“I’m working myself a lot harder in the gym to prepare myself physically for the car as well. With the increased competition in IPS I'm just going to have to work a whole lot harder within the car on the track as well as have my mind in the more proper state to compete against these guys,” he said.
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Pablo Perez at Homestead Open Test for Chip Ganassi Racing. Photo: ShawnPayneIRL |
Perez Becomes Sole Partipant from Driver-Rich Argentina in American Series
Pablo Perez hails from Argentina and will be competing in the United States for the first time. He's competed in South American Formula 3, driving for a team co owned by Brazilian IndyCar Series star Helio Castroneves.
Perez isn’t the first South American Formula 3 participant in the Indy Pro Series. F3 championship driver Thiago Medeiros and race winner Jaime Camara have been regulars in the series in the recent past.
“We’ve never had an Argentinean driver in the Indy Pro Series before. It's an honor to be the first one,” he said.
“This is a big step for reaching my goals. My first goal is to finish all of the races, and if we finish in the top five, it would be awesome.”
Bigger Purses Summon the Big Teams to the Series Too
A four-fold jump in the purses for 2007 in the Indy Pro Series has encouraged more interest in the series this year. It also offers a proving ground for not only drivers, but teams looking ahead to their future needs.
“This is not a one year program for us” concluded Hull. “Over time some of the mechanics and some of the engineers, and, in fact, some of the people that helped support this program will all be keepers for us. They will help the sport and they will help Chip Ganassi Racing.”
The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition begins with the Miami 100 on March 24th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race will be telecast on at 5 PM (EDT) on March 28th by ESPN2.
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