As a teenager, Gerardo Bonilla fell in love with sports car racing. Wandering the pit lane at Daytona International Speedway, he became mesmerized by the legendary IMSA GTPs of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Bonilla witnessed drivers such as Davy Jones and Chip Robinson steer iconic machinery like the Jaguar XJR and Nissan’s GTP, one day hoping to be in the driver’s seat himself.

Nearly 20 years have passed, but his dream has now finally become a reality. Bonilla, now 33, has been given an opportunity of a lifetime, racing for B-K Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series. This year, he’s strapped into the BP-sponsored Mazda-powered Lola prototype, hoping to help continue the “Zoom-Zoom” legacy in endurance racing.

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Gil de Ferran has enjoyed a storied career behind the wheel of open-wheel machinery. But after retiring from driving in 2003, the two-time CART Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner sought a new challenge in sports car racing, also itching to get back in the cockpit.

In January, de Ferran announced the formation of his own team, de Ferran Motorsports, which will campaign an Acura ARX-01b in the American Le Mans Series. De Ferran confirmed details of the program two weeks ago in Long Beach, naming Frenchman Simon Pagenaud as his co-driver and Panasonic as the car’s primary sponsor. With the team making its race debut at the next round in Salt Lake City, it’s full throttle ahead for the series’ newest LMP2 team.

De Ferran’s arrival adds yet another world-class name to the arsenal of stars that have made the transition to sports car racing. The likable Brazilian began racing in go-karts at age 14 before moving to England to race professionally. There, he won the British F3 Championship title in 1992 and was on the fast track to Formula One. De Ferran stepped into Paul Stewart Racing’s Formula 3000 operation for two years. But in 1995, he moved to the U.S. to race in CART.

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