Fernández Racing was a Mexican motor racing team that competed in the

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 ...

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

, the IRL

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

, and the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. The team was co-founded by Adrian Fernández and

Tom Anderson Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is an American technology entrepreneur and co-founder of the social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe. He was later president of Myspace and a strategic adviser ...

in 2001.

Open wheel

The team competed in the

ranks with Fernández and Shinji Nakano driving. In 2003 they downsized to one car, dropping Nakano, but scored their first victory at

Portland International Raceway Portland International Raceway (PIR) is a motorsport facility in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is part of the Delta Park complex on the former site of Vanport, just south of the Columbia River. It lies west of the Delta Park/Van ...

. A late decision just prior to the start of 2004 saw Fernández Racing switch ranks, as many other teams did during a tumultuous two-year period, from Champ Car to the IndyCar Series. Adrian won three races that year, at Kentucky Speedway,

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is an inactive tri-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Joliet, Illinois. It has hosted various major races throughout its existence, including NASCAR and IndyCar races. The track is currently own ...

and

California Speedway Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...

. In 2005 Fernández himself only drove at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

in a joint effort with Mo Nunn Racing. The team had two branches under their banner:

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 ...

Fernandez Racing, which ran

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 ...

, and Super Aguri Fernandez Racing, co-owned by

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 ...

, that ran

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 ...

. The team has also branched into the Grand-Am ranks, under the

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 ...

Fernandez Racing guise, fielding a

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand-Am Road Racing, Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype rac ...

for drivers Fernandez and Mario Haberfeld. For 2007, Fernández ended his involvement in both the IndyCar Series and Grand-Am series, with his partner

and driver

leaving to join Panther Racing in the IndyCar Series.

American Le Mans Series

In 2007, Fernández Racing became one of three factory supported teams in

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 ...

's new LMP2 project in the

. Fernández was chosen as the primary engine development team. Through the 2007 season, the team ran a Lola B07/40 chassis, with Highcroft Racing and Andretti Green Racing running heavily modified

Courage Courage (also called bravery, valour ( British and Commonwealth English), or valor (American English)) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in ...

chassis in order to compare the engine's performance relative to other Lola teams. In the team's ALMS debut at the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring, drivers Adrian Fernández and Luis Díaz finished third overall and second in the LMP2 class, behind the Andretti-Green Acura. After a strong start to the 2008 season for Acura, the Penske Racing

Porsche RS Spyder The RS Spyder (Type 9R6) is a racing car designed by Porsche in conjunction with Penske to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 (LMP2) racing. The car takes its name from the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder of the 1950s (combined with Porsche's ...

s would dominate the rest of the season claiming the next eleven races including eight overall victories. The team finished their debut season fourth in the LMP2 Teams' Championship with Fernández and Díaz eleventh in the Drivers' Championship. For

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, the team raced the updated Courage-derived Acura ARX-01b just as the other Acura teams. The 2008 season saw titanic battle between the LMP2 Acura and Porsche teams, and the LMP1 Factory Audi Sport North America team. Despite their consistent pace, the team's best result came as a second place at Mosport. The team finished the season 5th in the LMP2 Teams' Championship with Adrian Fernández and Luis Díaz 12th in the Drivers' Championship. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, Highcroft Racing and de Ferran Motorsports moved up to the LMP1 class, leaving Fernández Racing as the only Acura team in LMP2. By season's end, the team finished first in the P2 Teams' Championship ahead of their main rival Dyson Racing with Fernández and Díaz first in the Drivers' Championship. 2009 would be the final season of competition for the Fernández Racing with the team leaving

competition. However, HPD would continue to develop the ARX line of LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes.

Drivers

CART

* Adrian Fernández * Shinji Nakano * Max Papis * Luis Díaz (2 races)

IRL IndyCar Series

* Adrian Fernández

Grand-Am/ALMS

* Adrian Fernández (Grand Am & ALMS 2006-) * Mario Haberfeld (Grand-Am) * Luis Díaz (ALMS 2007-)

Racing results

Complete CART FedEx Championship Series results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) # The

Firestone Firehawk 600 The Firestone Firehawk 600 was a planned American open-wheel car race scheduled for April 29, 2001 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. The event was sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and was the ...

was canceled after qualifying due to excessive

g-force The g-force or gravitational force equivalent is a Specific force, mass-specific force (force per unit mass), expressed in Unit of measurement, units of standard gravity (symbol ''g'' or ''g''0, not to be confused with "g", the symbol for ...

s on the drivers.

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

( key)

IndyCar wins

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez Racing Champ Car teams IndyCar Series teams Grand American Road Racing Association teams American Le Mans Series teams American auto racing teams Mexican auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 2001