Fernandez, Adrian

Fernandez from the motorsport family: his uncles Santiago and Jose took part in races at the Rodriguez brothers circuit in Mexico City .

Adrian is married. His wife Katalina gave birth to two children: in April 2007, a daughter, Valentina, was born, and 13 months later, his son, Nico.

The family lives in Lugano , Switzerland .

Early years

Adrian began his sports career in 1973, taking part in a number of amateur motocross competitions.

In 1981, the Mexican first tried himself in motorsport , taking part in the daily marathon in Mexico City . Having shown himself to be a fairly fast pilot, Adrian, with the support of his father, goes into the formulaic motorsport, from that moment racing for several years in various national junior series. Having proved himself well at a similar level, the Mexican goes to Europe for several years, where he combines the work of a mechanic and a racing instructor of a driving school in Brands Hatch with races first in F Ford and then in the British F3 .

Fernandez did not get lost in more competitive series, stably coming to the points in most races.

In the early 1990s, Adrian returned to Mexico , passing to the national championship F3 . The racing experience gained in the Old World allowed him to win the vice-champion title already in his debut season, and in a year to become the winner of the series.

In 1992, the career of a native of Mexico City acquired a new vector - Fernandez is trying to break into the CART series. The first step in this direction is to participate in her support series - Indy Lights Championship. The debut season is very successful: Adrian starts three times from the pole, wins four races (including his first race in the series in Phoenix ) and takes third place in the championship

The level of results shown is sufficient to convince sponsors to pay for participation in several races of the CART series next season.

1993-97

Having secured the third pilot's seat in Galles Racing , Fernandez gradually gets used to the new technology and finishes in seventh position already in his third race (on the city ring in Detroit ). In the next two years, the Mexican fairly Mexican proves himself a fast and trouble-free racer, many times ending the race in the top ten and earning 13th and 12th place in the overall standings.

In 1994, the Mexican debuted in the Indy 500 : he qualifies without any problems, but in the race, because of problems with the suspension, he won’t finish. The same situation repeated a year later, but this time Fernandez brings the engine.

In 1995, following the results of the oval race in Brooklyn , Adrian for the first time finishes in the top three at the stage of the series, losing only to Scott Pruett and last year's vice champion Al Anzer Jr.

Before season 96, Galles leaves the series and Fernandez moves to Tasman Motorsports . Two seasons of speaking for this organization bring only local successes: one of them fell on the stage in Toronto , where the Mexican manages to win his first race in the series, ahead of the future two-time champion of the series Alessandro Zanardi and current three-time winner Bobby Reyhol . However, such competitions were performed infrequently by the Mexican and, as a rule, in the finish protocol opposite his surname was the inscription “Descended”.

1998-2000

On the eve of season 98, Adrian moved to his third team in the series - in Patrick Racing .

The Mexican manages to quickly find a common language with the engineers and from the first races he fights on equal terms with the leaders of the series. A series of stable finishes in Top10 (which included two wins - on an oval in Motegi and on a highway in Mid-Ohio) allows him to take fourth place in the overall standings, losing only 15 points to Jimmy Wasser , who became the second.

In addition, at the end of July - at the stage in Brooklyn - Adrian won the qualifying races for the first time.

In 1999, the results continued to improve and Fernandez could and should have intervened in the real fight for the title, but the accident at the Detroit stage cost him a broken arm and four missed races. However, even speaking on a limited schedule, the Mexican was able to take sixth place in the overall standings, and after returning to duty he quickly began to show the previous results and even won the final stage in Fontana .

In 2000, a native of Mexico did not get into serious accidents and was able to fully realize the capabilities of the team and his potential as a rider.

After a not very successful start of the year, when in two stages he could not finish not only in the points, but even among the twenty strongest pilots, he then gradually improves his results and fights for the title towards the finish of the season. Before the last stage, he and Gilles de Ferrand shared only six points in the championship, but Adrian did not manage to play this difference.

During that season, Fernandez won two victories - having won two away stages of the series (in Brazil and Australia ).

2001-04

Before the 2001 season, Adrian, along with former Chip Ganassi Racing manager Tom Anderson, founded his own team. The Mexican becomes her first pilot, and a place in the cockpit of the second car is sold to former F1 pilot Shinji Nakano . The organization purchases chassis and engines from Reynard Motorsport and Honda .

In the debut season, Adrian, predictably, markedly worsened his results, only periodically showing the level of his capabilities. In 20 races of that season, he was able to finish in Top5 three times.

In 2002, the team became more competitive; Adrian won qualifications twice and was much more stable in racing, but two serious accidents during the season did not allow the native of Mexico to take part in four races, which cast him outside the Top10 overall standings.

Fernandez spent the next year without getting into such major accidents, which allowed him to improve the results: a series of stable finishes in the spectacle group allowed him to climb the Top10 overall concept of the series, and at the stage in Portland he won his first victory in a long time, becoming the next pilot, who won the race at the same time as a racer and as the owner of the team

In the same 2003, Adrian gradually switched to a new project - a team in the IRL IndyCar series. The test season is held with one pilot, which becomes American Roger Yasukawa . A year later, having closed the representative office in Champ Car , Fernandez himself moved there.

In 2004, despite skipping the start of the series at the Homestead-Miami Speedway , Adrian gradually learns the possibilities of the new technology and fights on equal terms with the leaders of the series by the end of the season. In the six final stages of the season, he wins three times and finishes second again, which allows him to be on the fifth line of the individual standings, only losing a point to Elio Castronevez .

In 2005, due to funding problems, Adrian spent only one race at IRL IndyCar , after which he ended his career in the series. Fernandez Racing held out in the series for another year, after which she left her.

2005-11

According to the fashion of that time, the next stage in the career of the Mexican was the race of stock cars. With the support of Hendrick Motorsports, he has been on a limited schedule for the NASCAR Division Two for several years. However, special results cannot be obtained.

However, Fernandez’s career as a rider did not end there - he switched to racing sport prototypes, moving first to the Rolex Sports Car Series , and then to ALMS .

In 2007, the debut of a native of Mexico in the daily marathon in Le Mans . The Mexican crew will finish second in its class.

In the latest series, Fernandez Racing collaborates with Honda's factory program, which allows it to become very competitive in its class almost immediately. In 2009, when Porsche and Andretti-Geen Racing customers left the series, Fernandez and his compatriot Luis Diaz were able to win the title, winning 8 out of 10 races of the season.

In the offseason, with the reorganization of the championship, the Mexican team left the series. Fernandez remained in the Lehman races, signing a contract with the Aston Martin Racing team . In September 2012, Adrian, along with his racing career, took up a position in the Escuderia Telmex project, becoming the manager of another Mexican race car driver Sergio Perez . ^[one]

PivotTable

Champcar Racing

CART / ChampCar

Bold start from the pole position. Italics - a race where the fastest lap is shown.

IndyCar

Bold start from the pole position. Italics - a race where the fastest lap is shown.

Indy 500 Results

Summary Statistics

Competitions among sport prototypes

ALMS

Bold start from pole position
The result is written across the line in the absolute standings and in its class.

24 hours of Le Mans

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adrian Fernandez
• Official site (English) (Spanish)
• Profile (English) on Driver Database
• Profile (English) on the Racing Reference website