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 Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and began his career in Mexico at the age of eight. He entered his first auto race in 1981 at the "24 Hours of Mexico" race in Mexico City. At the age of 15, he made the permanent transition to cars in 1982. From 1982 to 1984, Fernández competed in the

Formula Vee Formula Vee (Formula Fau Vee in Germany) or Formula Volkswagen is a open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford. On the international stage, Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi ...

Championship, winning the title in both 1983 and 1984. He also raced in the Formula K Series in 1984, continuing in that series until 1986, and finished in the top four in the standings all three years in Formula K. In 1987, he participated in the Benelux Formula Ford 1600 Championship, one race in the British RAC Formula Ford 1600 Championship, and competed in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. From 1988 to 1989, he took part in the British RAC and Esso Formula Ford 1600 Championship series before moving to the Mexican F3 Championship in 1990 and 1991, winning the title in 1991. In 1992, Fernández moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship, now known as Indy NXT. He finished third in points, winning four races, a rookie record, setting a rookie record, and earned the honors of "Indy Lights Rookie of the Year," along with accumulating more than two million dollars in prize earnings.

CART, IROC, and IRL (1993–2004)

In 1993, Fernández made the jump to the CART IndyCar World Series, competing in five races for Galles Racing International. He participated in his first full season in 1994, with Galles finishing 13th and capturing the "Marco Magaña" and "Luchador Olmeca" awards along with 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 Tasman Motorsports Group is a former racing team that was owned by Steve Horne, a long-time motorsport figure who spent most of his career in the United States. Previously the team was an American-based open-wheel racing team that competed in th ...

in 1996. He had six top-ten finishes, including his first career CART victory at

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Unfortunately, his delight at taking his first win was dampened by the fatal accident suffered by

Jeff Krosnoff Jeffrey John Krosnoff (September 24, 1964 – July 14, 1996) was an American race car driver. A competitor in the CART PPG Indy Car World Series, he was killed in a racing accident during the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto. Early life and care ...

late in the race. The win in Toronto made him the first Mexican to win a CART event since

Héctor Rebaque Héctor Alonso Rebaque (born 5 February 1956) is a Mexican former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Mexico City, Rebaque participated in 58 Formula One Grands Prix. He founded Rebaque i ...

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 Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

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 Patrick Racing was an auto racing team in United States Auto Club, USAC, Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART, Champ Car World Series, Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. Patrick Racing was started by Pat Patrick (auto racing), U.E. "Pat" Patri ...

for the 1998 season and proved his ability to challenge for the championship. He enjoyed 14 top-ten finishes with eight top-five placements and two victories,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington, Ohio, Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar Series, Indy ...

, en route to a 4th place showing in the PPG Cup race during the 1998 FedEx Championship. He captured his first career pole at

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

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 Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is an American former racing driver who has competed in numerous disciplines of the sport. In the 1980s, Pruett established himself as a top sports car racer, winning two IMSA GTO, and three Trans-Am ...

. Fernández was also named the "Athlete of the Year" in Mexico. In 1999, Fernandez enjoyed his most successful season so far in the 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 Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (), is a island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada bor ...

resulted in a fracture in one of his hands, forcing him to sit out for several races. Undeterred, he later won at Motegi,

at the Firestone Firehawk 500 and at the Marlboro 500 in

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

, California — a race marred by the death of good friend Greg Moore. Later in 1999, Fernández was selected to participate in the

IROC International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, created by Les Richter, Roger Penske and Mike Phelps, promoted as an American-motorsports equivalent of an all-star game. Despite its name, IROC was primarily ...

series, where he competed against many top-tier drivers, including

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

drivers

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed "Texas Terry" or "the Iceman", is an American former stock car racing, stock car driver. He raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NAS ...

, and

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

. Fernández had 80 total starts in the series. Of those starts, he finished in the top-ten 41 times throughout his seven-year career. 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 Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and three further podium results. He finished second to

Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...

in the championship. In 2001, he founded Fernandez Racing, with former Ganassi manager Tom Anderson as his partner and ex-F1 driver

Shinji Nakano Shinji Nakano (中野信治, born 1 April 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver. His father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship. Racing career Pre Formula One Career For ...

as his teammate. He finished 3rd twice and took two poles that year, but his team's first victory came at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

in 2003, the first win for an owner-driver since

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

achieved the feat in 1992. That year he also ran an

Indy Racing League IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...

(IRL) entry for Asian-American

Roger Yasukawa Roger Yasukawa (born October 10, 1977) is an American-born Japanese former auto racing driver. He was born in Los Angeles, California, but holds Japanese citizenship. Yasukawa started karting in Southern California, winning the California State ...

, in partnership with

Aguri Suzuki is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Suzuki entered 88 Formula One Grands Prix, achieving a best result of third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the first Asian driver t ...

, 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 Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

was driver

Scott Sharp Scott Sharp (born February 14, 1968) is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp. Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing Leagu ...

's personal sponsor, while engine suppliers

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

insisted on Japanese driver

Kosuke Matsuura is a Japanese race car driver currently competing in the Super GT series. He previously competed in the Formula Nippon and IRL IndyCar Series. Early career After winning the Japanese Formula Dream Championship in 2001, Kosuke attracted the at ...

in the second car.

Busch Series (2005–06)

In 2005, he drove the No. 5

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

in Mexico for

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 316 Cup Series ra ...

in the first

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

race held outside the United States. In this race (called the

Telcel-Motorola 200 Stock car races in the Xfinity Series have been held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course in Mexico City, Mexico from 2005 to 2008, and since 2025. In its original run as a standalone event, it was notable for being the first points ...

), 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. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Camry XSE for Tricon Garage. He is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series ...

It was announced that he would run four more races in the Busch Series for

, 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 Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. I ...

series for his own team with Lowe's sponsorship.

ALMS (2007–present)

In 2007, Fernández moved to

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

LMP2 class as an

Acura Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, M ...

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 Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. With this victory, the

Fernandez Racing

Acura ARX-01 The Acura ARX-01, later known as the HPD ARX-01, is a series of Le Mans Prototypes built for sports car racing, specifically in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the first purpose-built race car b ...

B 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 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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 is a Japanese people, Japanese racing driver. He is the 2018 Super GT Series, 2018 Super GT – GT300 champion, having won it with LEON Racing, where he currently serves as its team director. Early career Kurosawa took up motorcycle racing at ...

and Robbie Kerr. This was the first

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

for a Mexican at the

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 H ...

in many years, to remember those achieved by

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name * Ricardo de Araújo Pereira (born ...

and Pedro Rodríguez in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

respectively. The English-French team took pole position on its category. 2009Lola-AstonMartinLMP1

After three years of absence, Fernández is now competing in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, 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 24 Hours of Le Mans, 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 24 Hours of Le Mans, 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 GT2, 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.

BRM P153

In 2024, Fernández acquired the legendary BRM P153, BRM P153/05 from a private collector. This Formula One car won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix under the command of Mexican idol Pedro Rodríguez (racing driver), Pedro Rodríguez.

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 marriedDa Priscila el 'sí' a Adrián
/ref> on May 4, 2018, in Miami Beach, Florida. The couple announced their son, Adrián Fernández Jr. was born on October 29, 2020.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel

(Template:American Open Wheel driver results legend, key)

CART results

IndyCar Series results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

NASCAR

(Template:NASCAR driver results legend, key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

International Race of Champions

(Template:American Open Wheel driver results legend, key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Adrian 1965 births 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Champ Car drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers IndyCar Series team owners International Race of Champions drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Living people Mexican expatriates in the United States Mexican people of Spanish descent Mexican racing drivers Mexican Indianapolis 500 drivers NASCAR drivers Racing drivers from Mexico City FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Hendrick Motorsports drivers Mexican Formula Three Championship drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers Tasman Motorsports drivers Mo Nunn Racing drivers JR Motorsports drivers Team Aguri drivers