Former Brazilian racing driver Gil de Ferran, winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2003, died of a heart attack in Florida, where he lived, the Brazilian automobile federation (CBA) announced on Saturday, December 30. “Gil suffered a heart attack while at a private car club in Opa Locka, Florida. He was transported to a hospital in the region, but he did not survive,” the same source said.
Aged 56, Gil de Ferran, born in Paris to a French father and living in Brazil since the age of 4, had also been crowned CART champion, an American single-seater formula, in 2000 and 2001. De Ferran had also been director sportsman of the BAR-Honda Formula 1 team from 2005 to 2007 then of another team, McLaren, from 2018 to 2021.
He made a return behind the wheel from 2008 to 2009 in the American Le Mans Series championship, where he won several victories, associated with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud. Since May 2023, he has also been a technical advisor to McLaren.