Mid-Ohio Saturday Notebook

It is overcast here this morning in Mid-Ohio with an occasional sprinkle, but right now it is dry as the Indy Lights cars take to the track for the first time. It will be interesting to see whether they are faster than the Atlantic times from yesterday (Summerton on pole at 1m12.970s). It's early yet but the Indy Lights cars are lapping in the 1m18s range, but they will get faster as more rubber goes down and they dial in the cars. They have a lot more HP but the Atlantic cars are more nimble………Attendance was rather sparse yesterday but more campers are coming in as the and it's building. A lot of people are expected on Sunday from the nearby Honda factories – Acura and Honda are sponsoring the entire weekend. IndyCar practice and qualifying are on tap today as well as the ALMS race at 3PM ET……………Gil de Ferran says he's realized one objective and will pursue another with a two-car IndyCar Series team for the 2010 season. De Ferran, the 2003 Indianapolis 500 champion, announced that he will retire from sports car driving at the completion of the American LeMans Series season to focus on de Ferran Motorsports entering the IndyCar Series. "Throughout my career, I've always been driven by challenges," de Ferran said at a news conference at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. "While I've enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the No. 66 XM Radio DFM Acura ARX-02a, my main focus moving forward is to continue to build our team into a world-class motorsports organization. I feel that by returning to the cockpit for the past year, I have been competitive and added value to our team as a driver. Overall, I also feel we succeeded in developing this program to a point where I can now step down and dedicate 100 percent of my time to expanding our team."……………..Robert Clarke, the former president of Honda Performance Development and now executive director of de Ferran Motorsports, also is dedicated to the program. "It's been in the works since I came on board," Clark said of the IndyCar Series plan. "I think we have some decent prospects on sponsorship and some unique ideas that could be appealing to sponsors. We have a lot of energy for it; we're working around the clock." Sponsorship details certainly don't escape de Ferran, who recently moved his family from the United Kingdom to the Miami area. "(Running two cars in the IndyCar Series and ALMS) is a dream, and part of the reason I'm stepping out of the cockpit is to fulfill this dream," de Ferran said. "The (IndyCar Series) is so competitive that if we want to run well the sooner we start the better. The secret of this sport, which is really no secret at all, is preparation. We need time, we need skilled personnel and we need money. If we start too late, our chances of being competitive from the start diminish. "We have great partnerships today and you need good partners to move forward. Expanding to IndyCar is a natural. My background is mostly in Indy car, it's a sport I understand well and I know a lot of the personnel. I'm confident we can attract additional talented personnel to make this team work well, which is the key to our success." Mark C.