FOUNTAIN, Colo., June 16 (UPI) -- In one of the most dominating performances of the season, Gil de Ferran scored his first career Indy Racing League win Sunday at the Radisson Indy 226.
De Ferran started on the pole and led all but eight of 225 laps around the Pikes Peak International Raceway.
"The car was absolutely fantastic today. It was good with cold tires, in traffic," said de Ferran, the two-time reigning CART champion. "I could drive on the top and I could drive on the bottom. I have to thank my engineer, Tom German. We've been knocking on the door since the beginning of the year. I'm glad to finally get a win in the IRL under my belt.
"Certainly, Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish were very fast, but my advantage was in traffic. The pace was so hard."
De Ferran defeated Castroneves by 1.4385 seconds. Defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. was third, followed by Felipe Giaffone and Scott Sharp.
The race was halted for 51 minutes after the 34th lap due to rain and hail. That was about the only thing that could slow the Marlboro Team Penske driver.
Castroneves, however, retained the lead in the IRL standings.
"First and second in the points is good, but this is not easy," Castroneves said. "Sam and I really raced hard. It's very difficult. You have to give credit for the way the car is set up. It's fantastic. Today wasn't my day, but I finished second, and that is how you score points for the championship."
The top three cars driven by de Ferran, Castroneves and Hornish ran together for most of the race. Hornish was able to wrest second from Castroneves at one point, but when Castroneves later got out of the pits ahead of Hornish, he never was able to pass the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
"I only backed off because I had to," Hornish said. "The car was either going to run into the side of him or I was going to end up in the wall. It's a tough track to pass on, you have to keep the momentum up and pass in traffic. We weren't quite good enough in traffic, but one on one we were very close."
