LEXINGTON, August 8, 2009. Gil de Ferran has announced he will quit racing to focus on entering a two-car team for the next IndyCar season.

The Brazilian, Champ Car champion in 2000 and 2001 and winner of the 2003 Indy 500, is currently racing in ALMS but wants to enter open-wheel racing.

He said: “I’m stepping out of the cockpit to fulfil this dream. IndyCar is so competitive so, if we want to run well, the sooner we start the better.

De Ferran, who will finish the season, returned to driving just last year to get his de Ferran Motorsports team off the ground.

He will remain an owner, saying he wants to concentrate on expanding the team, perhaps as soon as next season, with a two-car entry in the Indy Racing League while keeping two cars in the LeMans series.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always been driven by challenges,” said de Ferran, a 41-year-old Brazilian who worked as a television commentator and then as the leader of the Honda Formula One team after leaving IndyCars. “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.”