Grand Am
Lowe’s Fernandez Racing prepares for its second race on the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series tour this weekend at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Adrian Fernandez and Mario Haberfeld will pilot the No. 12 Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Pontiac Riley in Saturday’s 250-lap event on the challenging 2.786-mile, 17-turn road course. The team made its debut in the Rolex 24 At Daytona where it climbed as high as third place before overheating problems ended a promising run. Fernandez, competing in front of his hometown crowd, will perform double duty this weekend racing Saturday in the Rolex Series and Sunday in the No. 57 Lowe’s Chevrolet field by Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch Series.
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ ON RACING IN MEXICO CITY: “Naturally, I’m looking forward to the weekend. We have so many fans in Mexico City, and to win here would be a dream come true. I think you are going to see a lot of excitement for the Grand American Series. These cars are fast, and the race should be very competitive. You saw how close we were racing in the 24-hour race at Daytona last month. Imagine what it is going to be like on Saturday when we race for only a few hours! This is a growing series with some top notch teams. I hope the fans in Mexico City enjoy what they are about to see.”
FERNANDEZ ON THE NO. 12 LOWE’S FERNANDEZ TEAM: “We were able to race competitively at Daytona after taking delivery of the car just a few weeks earlier. Our crew has spent the time since then working with the car, and we feel a lot more prepared for this weekend’s race in Mexico City. Since we started this deal I have said that it might take us a while to get going, but once we do I expect us to have a chance to win every weekend. I know this track as well as anyone so I hope that gives us an advantage.”
DOUBLE DUTY WEEKEND – “It’s going to be a lot of fun and very busy. The thing that matters most to me is that we have a shot at running well in both series. Having great cars in both the Rolex and Busch races makes me really excited about racing this weekend. Add to that, that we are in Mexico City and this could be a perfect weekend.”
MARIO HABERFELD ON NEW TEAM: “I am really excited about Mexico City. I raced there last year and two times in Champ Car before that and I really enjoy the track. I’m looking forward to going down there just to watch Adrian and all his fans. I have heard stories about it, so I can’t wait to see how much fun they will have. I hope we can give them something to cheer about. I think we will. We ran really conservatively at Daytona and got up to third, so I am really looking forward to Mexico City where I think we will run harder because it is a much shorter race. This is one of the best race teams I have ever been around. They are very professional. I don’t want to be cocky, but I think this team has a real chance to win a lot of races this season. I think this weekend would be the perfect place to get started.”
ABOUT THE DRIVERS
Fernandez, 42, a Mexico City native who now resides in Paradise Valley, Ariz., made his mark as an open-wheel star through a 12-year career at the top levels of the sport. In 2005, he branched out to NASCAR running six races with Hendrick Motorsports in the Busch Series.
Haberfeld, 29, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and current resident of Key Biscayne, Fla., is a former British Formula 3 champion, who made his U.S. racing debut in the Champ Car World Series contesting the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
TEAM
Fernandez Racing was formed in 2000 by Fernandez and motorsports veteran Tom Anderson. The team has grown to encompass the Super Aguri Fernandez Racing and Delphi Fernandez Racing teams, which currently contest the IndyCar Series with drivers Kosuke Matsuura and Scott Sharp respectively. Lowe’s Fernandez Racing is based at the Fernandez Racing headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind. Anderson oversees the program as managing director, with Steve Miller as team manager, Mike Sales as chief mechanic and John Ward as race engineer.
Miller has been involved in motorsports for over 20 years in a variety of roles from mechanic to engineer and team director, and most recently served as general manager for Fernandez Racing. Formerly based in Mexico for eight years, Miller speaks fluent Spanish.
Sales has spent the past four years at Fernandez Racing in both chief mechanic and team manager roles and, as a veteran of over 33 years in the sport, brings extensive racing experience.
Ward’s distinguished career as a race and design engineer dates back to the mid ‘70s, and he most recently served as race engineer with Fernandez Racing in the IndyCar Series. His impressive roster of accomplishments include the design of a Daytona 24-Hour and Sebring 12-Hour race-winning chassis.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Thursday March 2
1 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Rolex Series Practice
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Rolex Series Practice
5:00 pm – Rolex Series Top-Three Press Conference
Friday March 3
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Rolex Series Practice
11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Rolex Series Qualifying
12:00 pm – Rolex Series Post-Qualifying Press Conference
1:15 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. Busch Practice
2:50 pm – 3:20 pm Busch Practice
3:45 pm – 5:00 p.m. Busch Practice
5:20 pm – Busch Press Conference
Saturday March 4
10:15 am – 11:00 am Rolex Series Final Practice
12:35 – Busch Qualifying
2:10 pm – Busch Post-Qualifying Press Conference
3:15 p.m. – Roles Series Race
6:15 pm – Post-Race Press Conference
Sunday March 5
1 p.m. – Busch Race
4:00 pm – Post-Race Press Conference
U.S. Coverage: Television coverage of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series will be carried on SPEED Channel in 2006. The Busch Series race will be carried by FOX.
Rolex Series Race – March 4 – SPEED Channel – 8:00 pm ET
Busch Series Race – March 5 – Fox – 2:00 pm ET
Mexico Coverage: Rolex Series races will also be distributed around the world via ESPN International, and Spanish-language broadcasts via FOX Latin American Channels including FX in Mexico.