Sergio Hernández von Rekowski (born 6 December 1983,

Xàbia () or () is a coastal town and municipality in the '' comarca'' of Marina Alta, in the province of Alicante, Valencia, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. Situated on the side of the Montgó Massif, behind a wide bay and sheltered between two rock ...

) is a Spanish

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

, best known for having competed in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

. He won the WTCC Independents' Trophy in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Career

Early years

Hernández's career started in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ...

in 1998, lasting until 2001 when he moved up to

formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single ...

with Portuguese Formula BMW and Spanish Formula Toyota. In 2002 he debuted in

Spanish Formula Three The Euroformula Open Championship (formerly the Spanish Formula Three Championship, European F3 Open Championship) is a junior formula racing series based in Spain. It was one of six national and international Formula Three championships in Europ ...

, driving for the Azteca team, where he would stay for 2003. In 2003 he also drove for Azteca in

British Formula 3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single se ...

, driving some races. He also drove part of the World Series Light season. He remained in Spanish F3 for 2004, only moving to the Campos team. He got a taste of

World Series by Nissan The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

, driving part of the season for the Saulnier team.

GP2 Series

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

he drove in the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccles ...

, partnered with Juan Cruz Álvarez, although Campos struggled throughout the season. He moved to

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

for

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, partnering

Lucas di Grassi Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podi ...

, but results were even more sparse. During the GP2 season finale at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, he drove for the

Trident Racing Trident Racing is a motor racing team that competes in single-seater formula racing. It was founded in 2006 in order to compete in the GP2 championship, which was Europe's second highest-ranking single-seater formula below Formula One. Trident is ...

team, replacing Ricardo Risatti who had himself replaced the injured

Pastor Maldonado Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (; born 9 March 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams (2011–2013) and Lotus (2014–2015) teams and as a Pirelli test driver until 2017. Before entering ...

for three race meetings.

World Touring Car Championship

Proteam Motorsport (2007–2008; 2010)

Hernández switched to touring cars in 2007, racing a

BMW 320si The fifth generation of the BMW 3 Series range of compact executive cars is designated under the model codes E90 (saloon), E91 (estate, marketed as 'Touring'), E92 (coupé) and E93 (convertible). The model was introduced in December 2004, and pr ...

for

Proteam Motorsport Proteam Motorsport is an Italian auto racing team based in Arezzo that was set up by former driver Valmiro Presenzini in 1997. They are best known for their efforts in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Their time in the WTCC has seen them b ...

in the

2007 World Touring Car Championship season The 2007 World Touring Car Championship season was the 4th season of FIA World Touring Car Championship motor racing. The championship, which commenced on 11 March and ended on 18 November, after twenty-two races, was open to Super 2000 Cars, D ...

. He finished 20th in the drivers' standings that season after participating in nine of the eleven rounds. He continued to race for Proteam in

alongside

Stefano D'Aste Stefano D'Aste (born 26 February 1974 in Genoa) is an Italian auto racing driver. His early racing career included competing on motorcycles and the Monza International Rally. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2004 (wh ...

. He took his first outright podium finish at the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Japan, finishing third behind

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...

and

Augusto Farfus Augusto Farfus Jr. (born 3 September 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He lives in Monaco. Early years Born in Curitiba, Farfus first tasted racing in minibike races and won the local champions ...

in the drying conditions of race one. That year he won the Independents' Trophy for the first time. He rejoined Proteam in

after BMW reduced their involvement in the series.

BMW Team Italy–Spain (2009)

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

he joined the works BMW Team Italy-Spain, replacing

Félix Porteiro Félix Porteiro Pérez (born 26 August 1983 in Castellón) is a Spanish racing driver. He competed in GP2 in 2006 and 2007, his best finish was 4th in 2007. Racing career Single-seaters In 2001 Porteiro drove in the Spanish Formula Three C ...

as teammate to

Alessandro Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and aga ...

Sergio Hernandez 2009 WTCC Race of Japan (Free Practice)

He failed to get through to Q2 for the Race of Brazil but started ahead of his teammate. He finished in the points in his first race as a works driver. While letting his teammate pass during qualifying for the Race of Morocco, Hernández clashed with fellow BMW driver

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tou ...

and finished the session nineteenth. Hernández retired from race two on the opening lap and his stranded car brought out the safety car. After qualifying for the Race of France, he was one of seven drivers who had their times from Q2 deleted for exceeding the engine rev limit on theirs cars. He finished fifth in race one but a collision with Porteiro on the first lap put Hernández out of the race and his BMW 320si caught fire, Porteiro was issued with a drive–through penalty for his involvement. He started on pole position for the reversed grid race at the Race of Spain but dropped down to sixth by the end of the race. Hernández took his first overall WTCC victory in race two of the Race of the Czech Republic, having started on the second row and passed pole sitter

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...

on the third lap. Race one of the Race of Portugal saw Hernandez and the Lada of

Jaap van Lagen Jaap van Lagen (born 22 December 1976 in Ede) is a Dutch racing driver, who is a former competitor in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series and a former Eurocup Megane Trophy champion. He has also raced in the World Touring Car Championship The FIA ...

, who started 17th and 18th respectively tangle after the

rolling start A rolling start is one of two modes of initiating or restarting an auto race; the other mode is the standing start. In a rolling start, the cars are ordered on the track and are led on a certain number of laps (parade or caution laps) at a pre-de ...

, pitching Hernandez in the concrete barrier. He was subsequently taken to hospital for checks on his ankle and was unable to start race two. Contact from

SEAT Sport Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the mi ...

driver

Jordi Gené Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also a ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia Ferr ...

during race two of the Race of Italy spun Hernández and dropped him down the order and he eventually finished eleventh. He finished the season eleventh in the drivers' championship as the fourth best BMW factory driver and one place ahead of his teammate. In December 2009, BMW announced it was to reduce its involvement in the WTCC from five cars to two. ROAL Motorsport would no longer be involved with the German manufacturer, leaving Hernández to find a seat himself for 2010.

Racing record

Complete GP2 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete International Superstars Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Sergio Hernández official website

Career statistics
at ''driverdb.com''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Sergio 1983 births Living people People from Xàbia Spanish racing drivers Sportspeople from the Province of Alicante GP2 Series drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Superstars Series drivers Campos Racing drivers Durango drivers Trident Racing drivers BMW M drivers RC Motorsport drivers OAK Racing drivers