INDYCAR – Wheels Fall Off for De Ferran Dragon

When the news broke a while back that Tony Kanaan had signed with De Ferran Dragon Racing, we here at the site were very excited at the variable that would add to 2011. TK is obviously a very talented driver who made charging through the field into a game last season. What would he be able to do in 2011 and for a team that had seen a best fourth position out of former driver Raphael Matos?

It all ended on Tuesday night when Tony Kanaan was released from De Ferran due to a lack of sponsorship dollars. Did he have a sponsor? It certainly would have appeared so, but not enough money was presented to keep TK in the ride and he was let go. Already a terrible story a very short four weeks out of the season opener at St. Pete. That story got even worse today as the De Ferran Dragon boys have shut their doors to the operation. Just like that, a team that was capable of a great 2011 result has the wheels come off for good.

So what does that mean? The doom and gloom has already began to surface all over Twitter and Facebook. Fans predict the good news momentum has hit a brick wall and fallen to pieces over the recent announcements. I remain upbeat and confident on the series overall and while I will admit that the bad news is indeed bad, I refuse to believe that this is the wheels coming off of the whole series. While perhaps a bigger team, it was not the biggest and truly only a one car effort. If it was someone like Andretti Autosport falling to pieces with four cars then I understand.

So what do you think? Is this a step backwards for the series overall? Will this mean the end of TK for 2011 or even for good? Let us know in the comment section below what you think!

Related posts

4 Thoughts to “INDYCAR – Wheels Fall Off for De Ferran Dragon

  1. …too stunned to offer rational comment at this point. 0_0

  2. JP

    A thought I had as I listened to trackside tonight discuss the issue, they kept talking about “Doing it right” and DeFerren not being interested in any other thing. Suppose this is a mothballing and an equiptment dump to stop spending $ this year and begin to stockpile capital to get started again in 2012? The competitive landscape will change in 2012 and why invest in a season that will go mediocrely at best?

  3. Very true statement. Gil said that he had nothing to say about 2012 at the moment. Which leads me to believe a new deal may surface for him when the new technology comes online. Perhaps a push for him and HPD given his ALMS ties and his Honda F1 ties. Certainly something to consider.

  4. A little surprised by the conversation about this on trackside last night. It sounds like TK was bringing in over a million dollars in sponsorship, but the team had nothing but their TEAM money. For an organization that wants to “do things right”, it would appear they failed at one of the most basic aspects by not securing any sponsorship.

    I love Gil, but I have to say I am pretty frustrated about how this one ended up. Hopefully TK can recover and get something together for the season.

Comments are closed.