Adrián Fernández

Adrián Fernández
Fernández at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City
Nationality	Mexican
Born	(1963-04-20) April 20, 1963 Mexico City, Mexico
Previous series
1981–1983, 1984–1986, 1987–1989, 1990–1991, 1992, 1993–2003, 2004–2005, 2006, 2007–2011	Mexican Touring Car Racing, Formula Vee, Formula K, Benelux Formula Ford, British Formula Ford, Mexican Formula Three, Indy Lights, CART World Series, IndyCar Series, Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup
Championship titles
1983, 1991, 2009	Mexican Formula Vee Champion, Mexican Formula Three Champion, American Le Mans Series LMP2 Class Champion
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2007, 2010–2012
Teams	Barazi-Epsilon, Aston Martin Racing
Best finish	2nd (2007)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
10 races run over 4 years
Best finish	74th (2005)
First race	2005 Telcel Motorola 200 (Mexico City)
Last race	2008 Corona Mexico 200 (Mexico City)
Wins Top tens Poles 2

Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team.

Racing career

Early career

Fernández was born in Mexico City. He began his career in Mexico by racing at the age of eight. He entered his first auto race in 1981 at the "24 Hours of Mexico" race in Mexico City, and at the age of 15, he made the permanent move to cars in 1982. From 1982 to 1984, Fernández competed in the Formula Vee Championship, taking the title in '83 and '84. He also raced in the Formula K Series in 1984, competing in that series through 1986. He finished in the top four in the standings all three years in Formula K.

In 1987, he ran one race in the Benelux Formula Ford 1600 Championship, one British RAC Formula Ford 1600 Championship race, and competed in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. In the time period of 1988 to 1989 he ran the British RAC and Esso Formula Ford 1600 Championship series before moving to the Mexican F3 Championship for 1990 and 1991, winning the title in '91.

In 1992, Fernández went to the United States to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship (now the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship). He finished third in the points, winning four races, a rookie record, and took the "Indy Lights Rookie of the Year" honors, and made more than two million dollars in prize earnings.

CART, IROC, and IRL (1993–2004)

His talent apparent, Fernández made the jump to the CART IndyCar World Series in 1993, competing in five races for Galles Racing International. He ran his first full CART season in 1994, with Galles finishing 13th and capturing the "Marco Magaña" and "Luchador Olmeca" awards and the "JAC" trophy for "Best Driver" outside Mexico. Competing again with Galles in 1995, Fernández finished 12th in the standings, placing with nine top-ten finishes.

Fernández moved to Tasman Motorsports in 1996. He had six top-ten finishes, including his first career CART victory at Toronto. Unfortunately, his delight at taking his first win was dampened by the fatal accident suffered by Jeff Krosnoff late in the race. The win in Toronto made him the first Mexican to win a CART event since Héctor Rebaque in 1982. Fernández went on to finish 12th in the season's points tally. 1997 was a disappointing season for Fernández. The Tasman team ran a Lola chassis, which failed to perform to expectations. Through force of will, determination, and talent, Fernández battled to three top-ten finishes and 18th place in the PPG Cup standings.

Fernández joined Patrick Racing for the 1998 season and proved his ability to challenge for the championship. He enjoyed fourteen top-ten finishes with eight top-five placements and two victories, Japan and Mid-Ohio, en route to a fourth-place showing in the PPG Cup race during the 1998 FedEx Championship. He captured his first career pole at Michigan and led the championship race for the first time in his career. Unfortunately, Fernández was once again touched by tragedy — a crash at Michigan resulted in an errant wheel from his car flying into the stands and killing three spectators. However, it was his victory during the Miller Lite 200 that gave Patrick Racing one of its most memorable moments, when Fernández stood atop the podium next to his teammate Scott Pruett. Fernández was also named the "Athlete of the Year" in Mexico.

In 1999, Fernandez enjoyed his most successful season so far in the CART series, Adrián Fernández, behind the wheel of the #40 Tecate/Quaker State Reynard Ford-Cosworth, completed the year sixth in the championship battle. He led the points' series early in the season for the first time in his CART career. However, an accident at Belle Isle Park resulted in a fracture in one of his hands, forcing him to sit out for several races. Undeterred, he later won at Motegi, Japan at the Firestone Firehawk 500 and at the Marlboro 500 in Fontana, California — a race marred by the death of good friend Greg Moore.

Later in 1999, Fernández was selected to participate in the IROC series, where he competed against many top-tier drivers, including NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, and Dale Earnhardt. Fernández had 80 total starts in the series. Of those starts, he finished in the top-ten 41 times throughout his seven-year career.

Adrián Fernández

In 2000, Fernández had his best season in the CART series, coming close to winning the championship despite not starting on the front row all season. He scored points in 17 of the 20 races, including two wins at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Australia, and three further podium results. He finished second to Gil de Ferran in the championship.

In 2001, he founded Fernandez Racing, with former Ganassi manager Tom Anderson as his partner and ex-F1 driver Shinji Nakano as his teammate. He finished 3rd twice and took two poles that year, but his team's first victory came at Portland in 2003, the first win for an owner-driver since Bobby Rahal achieved the feat in 1992. That year he also ran an Indy Racing League (IRL) entry for Asian-American Roger Yasukawa, in partnership with Aguri Suzuki, and in 2004, he moved the whole team to the series. Despite taking three wins and finishing 4th overall in the 2004 IRL championship, he was unable to secure funding to race in 2005. Delphi was driver Scott Sharp's personal sponsor, while engine suppliers Honda insisted on Japanese driver Kosuke Matsuura in the second car.

Busch Series (2005–06)

In 2005, he drove the No. 5 Lowe's / Hitachi Chevrolet in Mexico for Hendrick Motorsports in the first NASCAR Busch Series race held outside the United States. In this race (called the Telcel-Motorola 200), Fernández raced in a one-time race to help promote NASCAR racing to the local fans. He led several laps in the race before giving up the lead to eventual race winner Martin Truex Jr. It was announced that he would run four more races in the Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports, but he did not run up front at any of those races. In 2006, he competed in two Busch races for Hendrick and competed full time in the Grand-Am series for his own team with Lowe's sponsorship.

ALMS (2007–present)

Adrián Fernández in the Acura ARX-01B in 2008

In 2007, Fernández moved to American Le Mans Series LMP2 class as an Acura factory team. His teammate was fellow Mexican and Grand-Am veteran Luis Díaz.

On October 10, 2009, Fernández and his co-driver Luis Díaz won at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. With this victory, the Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01B concludes the season with the drivers' championship and teams' championship of the American Le Mans Series in the LMP2 category.

24 Hours of Le Mans

In the 2007 Fernández made his debut with a second place in the LMP2 category in the famous race with the Barazi-Epsilon team Zytek aboard a 07S/2 3.4-liter V8 prototype. His teammates were Haruki Kurosawa and Robbie Kerr. This was the first podium for a Mexican at the Circuit de la Sarthe in many years, to remember those achieved by Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez in 1962 and 1968 respectively. The English-French team took pole position on its category.

The Lola-Aston Martin B09/60

After three years of absence, Fernández is now competing in the 2010 now competing in LMP1 class with Aston Martin Racing finished fifth in his category (sixth absolute) with a Lola-Aston Martin B09/60, his co-drivers were Harold Primat and Stefan Mücke.

The luck did not favor Adrian in 2011, when his team, the Aston Martin Racing in LMP1 class, could barely afford 2 laps with their Aston Martin AMR-One and leave the test due to problems with the engine running at the 56th site.

In the 80th edition of 2012, Fernández and the Aston Martin Racing Team got third place in the GTE-Pro class, along with his co-drivers Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner, Their Aston Martin Vantage 4.5 L-V8 covered a total of 332 laps (2,811.65 miles), on the Circuit de la Sarthe without failure or serious mechanical problems. Also, the team achieved the fastest lap of the category with 3 minutes and 54,928 seconds. Adrián had the honor to drive the last stage of the competition.

On September 12, 2012, Fernández announced that his participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship would conclude at the end of the season, as well his relationship with the Aston Martin Racing team that started in 2010. The Mexican driver will focus on competitions in the United States.

Sergio Pérez's manager

On September 28, 2012 Formula One driver Sergio Pérez announced that Férnandez would be his manager.

Turn 12 Adrián Fernández

In September 2016, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez honored Fernández when they named Turn 12 of the circuit after him.

Personal life

Fernández retired from motorsports in 2012. He has two children: Valentina and Niko Fernández, and he married longtime girlfriend, former beauty queen, author, and retired actress Priscila Perales on October 21, 2017. They got married on May 4, 2018, in Miami Beach, Florida. The happy couple announced their son, Adrián Fernández Jr. was born on October 29, 2020.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel

(key)

CART results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points	Ref
1993	Galles	SRF	PHX	LBH 23	INDY	MIL 21	DET 7	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS DNS	NHM	ROA 29	VAN	MDO	NZR	LS 12						24th	7
1994	Galles	SRF 13	PHX 10	LBH 8	INDY 28	MIL 16	DET 23	POR 10	CLE 7	TOR 13	MIS 23	MDO 6	NHM 8	VAN 22	ROA 5	NZR 21	LS 7						13th	46
1995	Galles	MIA 11	SRF 26	PHX 12	LBH 18	NZR 9	INDY 21	MIL 10	DET 6	POR 9	ROA 6	TOR 7	CLE 12	MIS 3	MDO 4	NHM 26	VAN 22	LS 10					12th	66
1996	Tasman	MIA 11	RIO 14	SRF 23	LBH 6	NZR 10	500 DNS	MIL 11	DET 4	POR 12	CLE 6	TOR 1	MIS 20	MDO 6	ROA 13	VAN 8	LS 11						12th	71
1997	Tasman	MIA 13	SRF 11	LBH 11	NZR 23	RIO 26	STL 8	MIL 24	DET 27	POR 10	CLE 17	TOR 14	MIS 26	MDO 23	ROA 12	VAN 19	LS 23	FON 3					18th	27
1998	Patrick	MIA 6	MOT 1*	LBH 4	NZR 26	RIO 3	STL 18	MIL 9	DET 2	POR 24	CLE 5	TOR 9	MIS 23	MDO 1	ROA 5	VAN 15	LS 7	HOU 6	SRF 6	FON 4			4th	154
1999	Patrick	MIA 20	MOT 1*	LBH 4	NZR 5	RIO 20	STL 21	MIL 5	POR 4	CLE 19	ROA 3	TOR 6	MIS 6	DET DNS	MDO Inj	CHI Inj	VAN Inj	LS 5	HOU 12	SRF 3	FON 1		6th	140
2000	Patrick	MIA 21	LBH 24	RIO 1	MOT 10	NZR 5	MIL 8	DET 21	POR 12	CLE 7	TOR 2	MIS 6	CHI 5	MDO 6	ROA 2	VAN 3	LS 12	STL 10	HOU 7	SRF 1	FON 5		2nd	158
2001	Fernández	MTY 19	LBH 16	TXS NH	NZR 19	MOT 16	MIL 5	DET 12	POR 19	CLE 21	TOR 3	MIS 25	CHI 10	MDO 22	ROA 3	VAN 21	LAU 24	ROC 23	HOU 14	LS 10	SRF 19	FON 18	18th	45
2002	Fernández	MTY 13	LBH 10	MOT 7	MIL 2	LS 18	POR 14	CHI 13	TOR 9	CLE 11	VAN 8	MDO Inj	ROA 18	MTL 12	DEN 4	ROC 14	MIA 7	SRF 17	FON Inj	MXC Inj			14th	59
2003	Fernández	STP 15	MTY 4	LBH 2	BRH 12	LAU 15	MIL 6	LS 7	POR 1	CLE 11	TOR 9	VAN 12	ROA 12	MDO 7	MTL 8	DEN 5	MIA 8*	MXC 8	SRF 12	FON NH			8th	105

IndyCar Series results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points	Ref
2004	Aguri-Fernández Racing	HMS	PHX 20	MOT 18	INDY 7	TXS 5	RIR 7	KAN 6	NSH 10	MIL 8	MIS 12	KTY 1	PPIR 2	NZR 7	CHI 1	FON 1	TX2 5		5th	445
2005	Aguri-Fernández Racing	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY 14	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	29th	16

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tires	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points	Ref
2007	Lowe's Fernández Racing	LMP2	Lola B06/43	Acura 3.4L V8	M	SEB ovr:3 cls:2	STP ovr:6 cls:4	LNB ovr:8 cls:7	TEX ovr:8 cls:7	UTA ovr:7 cls:5	LIM ovr:Ret cls:Ret	MID ovr:4 cls:3	AME ovr:8 cls:6	MOS ovr:8 cls:6	DET ovr:6 :cls:4	PET ovr:Ret cls:Ret	MON ovr:5 cls:3	11th	102
2008	Lowe's Fernandez Racing	LMP2	Acura ARX-01b	Acura 3.4L V8	M	SEB ovr:DSQ cls:DSQ	STP ovr:10 cls:7	LNB ovr:8 cls:6	UTA ovr:5 cls:5	LIM ovr:5 cls:4	MID ovr:5 cls:3	AME ovr:Ret cls:Ret	MOS ovr:4 cls:2	DET ovr:23 cls:9	PET ovr:Ret cls:Ret	MON ovr:9 cls:7		12th	88
2009	Lowe's Fernández Racing	LMP2	Acura ARX-01b	Acura 3.4L V8	M	SEB ovr:4 cls:1	STP ovr:2 cls:1	LNB ovr:3 cls:1	UTA ovr:3 cls:1	LIM ovr:7 cls:2	MID ovr:3 cls:1	AME ovr:3 cls:1	MOS ovr:3 cls:1	PET ovr:21 cls:2	MON ovr:2 cls:1			1st	217
2010	Aston Martin Racing	LMP1	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	M	SEB ovr:3 cls:3								PET				NC	-
		LMP					LNB ovr:2 cls:2	MON	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS
2011	Aston Martin Racing	LMP1	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	M	SEB	LNB	LIM	MOS	MID	AME	BAL	MON ovr:1 cls:1	PET ovr:3 cls:3				7th	25
2012	Aston Martin Racing	LMGTE Pro	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	Aston Martin 4.5 L V8	M	SEB ovr:34 cls:3												NC	-
		GT					LNB ovr:11 cls:5	MON ovr:17 cls:8	LIM	MOS	MID	AME	BAL	VIR	PET

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	Barazi-Epsilon Zytek Engineering	Haruki Kurosawa Robbie Kerr	Zytek 07S/2	LMP2	301	27th	2nd
2010	Aston Martin Racing	Harold Primat Stefan Mücke	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	LMP1	365	6th	5th
2011	Aston Martin Racing	Harold Primat Andy Meyrick	Aston Martin AMR-One	LMP1	2	DNF	DNF
2012	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	GTE Pro	332	19th	3rd
Sources:

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2005	Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevy	DAY	CAL	MXC 10	LVS	ATL	NSH	BRI	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL 28	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT 40	MEM	TEX 43	PHO 28	HOM 42	74th	411
2006		57		DAY	CAL	MXC 12	LVS	ATL	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	MAR	GTY	IRP	GLN 17	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	87th	239
2007		5		DAY	CAL	MXC 9	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	115th	138
2008	JR Motorsports			DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	MXC 14	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	110th	121

International Race of Champions

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

International Race of Champions results
Year	Make	1	2	3	4	Pos.	Points	Ref
1999	Pontiac	DAY 7	TAL 6	MCH 10	IND	10th	28

Bibliography

• CART Communications Staff (2002). CART FedEx Championship Series Media Guide. Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc.

External links

• Official website
• Adrián Fernández driver statistics at Racing-Reference