De Ferran's IRL baptism

De Ferran and teammate Helio Castroneves are the only two CART drivers who will compete against the Indy Racing Northern Light Series drivers in the 200-mile race at Phoenix International Raceway. It is the first time Penske Racing has competed in an IRL event and is designed as a dress rehearsal for a return to the 'Big One', the Indianapolis 500.

This year's '500' will be the first full effort by 10-time Indy 500-winner Penske Racing since Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi failed to make the field for the 1995 Indianapolis 500, the final race before the IRL's breakaway. Ironically. Unser had won the race for Penske in 1994.

The IRL has the Indy 500 as its cornerstone event, but teams from CART are beginning to realise the importance that comes with competing in the world's biggest open wheel race. After Juan Montoya won at Indy last year for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske decided it was time for his team to return.

The first step comes this weekend in the IRL season-opener. After competing in last week's CART opener at Monterrey, Mexico the team has switched cars - from a Reynard-Honda CART car to a Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora for the IRL.

"When I tested this car at Indianapolis in superspeedway configuration, it really didn't feel that different from the CART car," de Ferran said. "Getting up to speed is different because this car doesn't have a lot of power. But once you are flat, you are flat. Driving on the edge at Indy is just as difficult as I remember.

"But in this type of configuration on the mile ovals, it's a different animal altogether. It is the complete opposite of the Champ Car in CART, which has a lot of power and zero grip. This is more about carrying momentum and having the car handling well in the middle of the turn."

De Ferran was 21st in Friday's combined practice session with a lap at 167.776 miles per hour. Castroneves was much quicker at 171.364 mph - the ninth fastest speed of the two practice sessions. But De Ferran believes he is getting a late start because of a pre-season crash at Homestead, Florida when he crashed while testing the CART car.

"I was out of the cars for about a month because of the crashes in the winter," de Ferran said. "Going into last week's race at Mexico, I was fine. I had totally recovered from my bumps and bruises. It wasn't too difficult to get on with things in Mexico. Obviously, I have a lot more miles in that car and in that configuration.

"Here, I'm up against it a little bit. I didn't have a lot of running in these cars here in testing and when I did test here, I wasn't any good at all. I was in a lot of pain. It's difficult not having a lot of miles in this car. I'm going from a car that I know very well to a car that I know not a lot about."

De Ferran said the first step towards running in the Indianapolis 500 is Sunday's race. That is why he believes it is so important to familiarise himself with the IRL car before going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.

"We felt this was important or otherwise we wouldn't have done it," de Ferran said. "We are fully aware of the fact Chip Ganassi went there last year and won the race without doing any other IRL races. But we felt for our own good, we would have been better off coming here.

"How much is it going to help us? It's hard to measure. We feel it is an important step for us to get acquainted to the equipment and to the competitors and to the whole series in general. Hopefully, by going through that process, we will make less mistakes when the time comes."

De Ferran said that because the IRL cars have so much more downforce than the cars in CART, it allows him to drive far deeper into the corners than he can with his Reynard-Honda. De Ferran also tested his CART car at the one-mile PIR oval and said he had to hit the brakes entering turns 1 and 3.

The defending CART champion is also competing against a group of IRL drivers that he has not raced against, with the exception of such former CART drivers as Al Unser Jr and Eddie Cheever.

"That is part of why we were here, to run against those guys and to see who is who, what they do and how they behave," de Ferran said. "The preparation is as much for the driver as it is the team. I was watching Eddie Cheever out there and he runs just as hard as I remembered him in CART. But there are a lot of guys here that I don't know and I'm sure they don't know me. It's a good opportunity to get acquainted.

"The IRL is dramatically different from CART, but once you pull the visor down, it really doesn't feel that different. You are up against the same problems you have in any race car. It's forget about who came from Sprint Cars or Indy Lights - you don't care, because it's a race. The drivers here are very talented and some of them are really hooked up. The times they are turning are not easy to do."