and Biographys
Jay PenskeHow long has this been in the works?
Gil and I have been discussing working together for many years. I’d say more active discussions about working together really started in the last year and have been ramping up ever since. Over the last four months Steve, Gil and I came to the realization that in order to put together an effort that could really face the challenges of the current establishment and have a better chance to deliver the successful results we all want we would be best served combining our resources. The more we talked about it the more it made sense.
Knowing Gil as well as you do what does his presence mean to the team and Raphael?
Gil brings an incredible amount of racing experience, technical and process excellence, “in car” understanding and driver coaching and guidance for Rafa. And he’s one of my closest friends.
Gil de Ferran How do you make up the gap to the dominant teams?
With great difficulty! These teams and their drivers have been dominating the series the last several years and have amassed a huge amount of data with the current IndyCar equipment. In addition, the current testing rules make it difficult for a young team and young driver to make up ground. Despite those challenges, we will do everything possible to make up that deficit. We have plans to invest heavily in simulation technology and will try to build out our engineering capabilities beyond our main rivals.
How many cars will you run?
Right now, we are running one car with Raphael Matos, but are working hard on expanding our program as this will increase our ability to improve and to extend our resources. We hope to have those details ironed out very soon.
Do you plan to expand into other forms of motorsport?
The way we see it, IndyCar is a good fit for our company, which has a strong focus in the science and technology of motorsports. Nevertheless, as I announced in Mid Ohio, we will continue to look into other motorsports activities that are in keeping with our focus.
Steve LuczoDo you expect any more changes to the team?
Our team will continue to evolve over time. We have a clear view that technology and science will give us the competitive edge we need to be successful on track. As we push the envelope to develop new technologies and create new initiatives it is certain the team structure will also develop.
How will you leverage technology?
We all come from a tech background and we will be taking a high tech approach to the business on all fronts.
Biographys
Steve Luzco
Steve Luczo’s enthusiasm for sports expanded into open-wheel racing when he, along with Jay Penske, founded Luczo Dragon Racing in 2006 and entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2007. The duo was rewarded for their leadership by finishing fifth at Indy in their very first race.
Luczo (pronounced Lou-so), who became a general partner of the Vancouver MLS franchise in 2009 and owns a minority interest in the Boston Celtics, is best known for his involvement with Seagate Technology which he joined in 1993 and where he currently serves as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors. This is his second stint as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer from 1998-2004 and helped build Seagate into the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives and storage solutions with a market capitalization of $16 billion. In January 2009, Luczo was again appointed President and CEO.
In addition to his successful career as a business operator and financier, Luczo is also passionate about sports and the creative arts – in combination with his very active philanthropic endeavors.
In 2002, Luczo founded Balance Vector as a diverse collection of athletes, artists, filmmakers, musicians, and writers from around the world whose efforts go beyond achieving excellence in their respective fields. Each member of the team seeks to inspire and educate others to make a positive difference in areas relating to at-risk youth, the environment, and cultural understanding (the BV mission). The Balance Vector team is built with the aim of finding synergies and areas of collaboration where their combined experience and expertise can help to bring larger projects into fruition.
Jay Penske
As a successful media and publishing entrepreneur, Jay Penske has been creating and running companies since graduating from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. When he joined forces with Steve Luczo as founding partner of Luczo Dragon Racing in 2006, he brought his entrepreneurial spirit to the world of open-wheel racing, where the Penske name has been synonymous with winning for more than 40 years. Aside from co-owning the team, Penske serves as the team’s race strategist.
Penske is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC). Under his leadership, the company has become one of the foremost interactive media and publishing companies. MMC today owns and operates Mail.com, Deadline.com, HollywoodLife.com, MovieLine.com, Fan.com, and The MailTimes. MC is also a joint venture partner in OnCars.com, a site Penske co-founded in 2007.
Outside of racing and technology, Jay has a deep passion and love for books. He owns a rare and antiquarian bookstore in Los Angeles called Dragon Books. The store's name (and ultimately his race team’s name) was inspired by the first book he read as a boy, the wonderful children’s story “Dragon, Dragon.”
Gil de Ferran
Former double IndyCar World Series Champion and 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner, Gil de Ferran has enjoyed huge success in international motorsport and driven for some of the most legendary and successful team owners including Roger Penske, Jackie Stewart and Jim Hall. t was no surprise that when the 42 year old Brazilian turned his attention to team ownership and management he would continue his winning ways.
Gil started racing karts in his native Brazil at the age of five and as a teenager moved to Europe to compete in junior single seater motorsport with great success in both continents culminating in the prestigious British Formula 3 title in 1992. He then made the brave move to the States to race in the IndyCar World Series with Jim Hall. He immediately made an impression on the series and was crowned 1995 Rookie of the Year. After a second year with Hall and three years racing with Walker Racing, de Ferran was chosen to drive for front running Team Penske in 2000 and success was immediate; two IndyCar World Series championship crowns were to follow. Gil went on to win the Indy 500 in 2003 and soon after announced his decision to retire at the end of the season.
Throughout his career de Ferran became known as the “professor” due to his reputation as a technically astute driver. Having studied engineering at university the subject always fascinated him and his technical feedback abilities earnt him vital development roles with all the major manufactures instrumental in his career including Honda, Goodyear and Reynard. This was to put him in great stead for the career he has forged outside the cockpit.In 2005 de Ferran returned to the UK to take up the role of Sporting Director for the Honda Racing Formula One team, further strengthening his solid relationship with the Japanese manufacturer that had flourished during his IndyCar years. He was to leave in 2007 and together with works backing from Honda set up his American Le Mans Series operation running the Acura ARX-01b in the LMP2 division of the championship. The move also saw the Brazilian return to the cockpit as lead driver in his new team with support from young Frenchman Simon Pagenaud. Success was immediate and de Ferran Motorsports took four front row grid positions, led six races and scored three podium finishes from just eight starts.
2009 saw another challenge when de Ferran Motorsports was chosen by Honda to develop the Acura ARX-02a for competition in the LMP1 division of the American Le Mans Series. The team scored five outright wins, seven poles, seven fastest laps and finished runners up in the ALMS LMP1 Championship.
Half way through 2009 de Ferran announced his decision to retire from the cockpit at the end of the racing season, expressing his intention to concentrate all his resources on expanding his team, making public his desire to return to IndyCar racing as a front running team owner. The merger with Luczo Dragon Racing is the realisation of this ambition and the beginning of another exciting chapter in the de Ferran success story.
Raphael Matos
With four series titles and three Rookie of the Year awards in seven years, Raphael Matos’ name is becoming synonymous with the word Champion. The 28-year old Brazilian has won titles in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008, which helped pave the way for a full time IndyCar Series ride in 2009, fulfilling a dream that began in 1992.
After claiming the Firestone Indy Lights Series title as a rookie in 2008, Matos was snatched up by Luczo Dragon Racing to pilot the #2 car. All he did was register eight top 10 finishes, third most ever by a rookie driver, to win the Apex IndyCar Rookie of the Year award. He finished 13th overall in the standings, an impressive feat for a first year driver with a first year team.
While 2009 was his first season in the IndyCar Series, Matos served as a test driver for Andretti Green Racing’s IndyCar Series program in 2008. The experience helped make the transition to full time IndyCar driver smooth. He finished the season with four top 10s in the final five races and his eight top 10 finishes overall were split evenly between ovals (4) and road/street courses (4). The 102 points he recorded over the final five races were the eighth most in the series.
Matos made his IndyCar debut after a successful run through the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder, during which he claimed four series titles in six years, including the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights and 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series crowns. He claimed the Star Mazda Championship in 2005 and won the Formula Dodge National Championship in 2003.
A native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Matos began racing karts and winning championships in 1996, tying for the city championship in his first year. He came to the United States in 2002 to compete in the Formula Dodge and Skip Barber Race Series. He was Skip Barber Rookie of the Year and followed that by winning the Formula Dodge National Championship a year later.
In 2004, Matos moved up to the Star Mazda Series and won the title in his second season. He made the jump to the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series in 2006 and finished fourth in the point standings for the Sierra Sierra team. That same season, he also competed in four Indy Pro Series races for Jim Guthrie Racing and swept the two races held in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In 2007, he claimed the Atlantic Series championship after scoring six wins in 12 starts. The Atlantic title secured a $2 million “scholarship” for a ride in Champ Car in 2008, but Matos passed, choosing instead to sign with Andretti Green Racing to drive in the Indy Racing League's Firestone Indy Lights Series.
During the fall of 2007, he was named a driver for A1 Team Brazil in the A1 Grand Prix series and made his debut at the series' race in Beijing during the 2006-2007 season. He raced a Lola B07/40-Mazda in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2007 Petit Le Mans.
With Andretti Green Racing, Matos kept his championship momentum and made it back-to-back series titles by securing the Indy Lights crown with three wins, eight top 5s and 13 top 10s in 2008. He led the league in poles (5), top 10 finishes (13), laps led (190) and races led (5).
Prior to the 2008 Indy Lights season, he drove a Mazda RX-8 for the SpeedSource team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking first in the GT class and a 9th place overall finish, sharing the car with Nick Ham, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay. After the season, he drove for Michael Shank Racing on the winning team in the DP class (with Ian James and John Pew) at the SunRichGourmet.com 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park.
