Shuttered

By Andrew Cutler
March 1 2011

After four seasons in IndyCar, de Ferran Dragon (formerly Luczo Dragon) Racing has been forced to close it's doors: It remains to be seen if this is a permanent act, or if the squad might re-emerge in 2012.

Founded in 2007 as a platform for Ryan Briscoe to stage a comeback from injuries suffered in 2005, LDR ran partial seasons in '07 & '08 (with Tomas Scheckter behind the wheel) before taking on the full IndyCar schedule for the past two seasons with '08 Indy Lights champ Rapheal Matos. Former CART/IndyCar driver (and Honda F1 consultant) Gil de Ferran became a part owner in 2010, the squad being renamed de Ferran Dragon Racing.

dFDR thought that they had a full season deal for 2011 cemented with former Andretti Autosport driver Tony Kanaan, but the combined 'name recognition' of TK & de Ferran couldn't drum up sufficient sponsorhip funding, even in their motorsports-crazy homeland of Brazil.

Gil weighed the options and came to the conclusion that merely running a partial schedule was not the right thing to do, deciding to close up shop alltogether instead. As far as what might happen beyond the 2011 season, he would only say that; "regarding the future of our team, at this point we are unclear of our plans."

Shuttered

Posted by: IndyCar Racing (IP Logged)

Date: 01/03/2011 14:45

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