Adrián Fernández

Fernández was born in Mexico City and began competitive motorsport at the age of eight. He entered his first automobile race in 1981 at the 24 Hours of Mexico, then transitioned fully to cars in 1982. He won the Formula Vee Championship in both 1983 and 1984, competed in Formula K until 1986, and moved to European Formula Ford in 1987, racing in the Benelux and British RAC championships as well as the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. After further British Formula Ford racing in 1988 and 1989, he won the Mexican F3 Championship in 1991.

In 1992, Fernández moved to the United States for the Firestone Indy Lights Championship, finishing third in points and winning four races — a rookie record. He was named Indy Lights Rookie of the Year and accumulated over two million dollars in prize earnings.

Fernández entered the CART IndyCar World Series in 1993 with Galles Racing International, contesting five races before joining the team full-time in 1994. His early CART seasons with Galles established him as a consistent points scorer, but his breakthrough came in 1996 when he moved to Tasman Motorsports and took his first career CART victory at Toronto — making him the first Mexican CART winner in 14 years. The joy of the win was overshadowed by the fatal accident suffered by Jeff Krosnoff during the same race.

Fernández joined Patrick Racing for 1998 and delivered his strongest CART campaign to that point: 14 top-ten finishes, eight top-five results, and two victories at Japan and Mid-Ohio, finishing fourth in the PPG Cup standings. He captured his first career pole at Michigan during this season. A tragic moment marred the year when an errant wheel from his car at Michigan flew into the grandstands and killed three spectators.

In 1999, Fernández won at Motegi and Fontana, completing the season sixth in championship points. The Fontana race, the Marlboro 500, was overshadowed by the death of fellow driver Greg Moore. His 2000 season was his best overall: he scored points in 17 of 20 races, won at Rio de Janeiro and Australia, and finished second in the championship to Gil de Ferran.

In 2001, Fernández founded Fernandez Racing in partnership with Tom Anderson, with Shinji Nakano as teammate. He continued competing alongside managing his team. In 2003, Fernandez Racing took its first victory at Portland — the first owner-driver win since Bobby Rahal in 1992. That same year, Fernández ran a parallel Indy Racing League entry for Roger Yasukawa in partnership with Aguri Suzuki.

Fernández moved Fernandez Racing fully to the IRL for 2004, taking three wins and finishing fourth in the championship. Funding shortfalls prevented the team from racing in 2005.

In 2005, Fernández drove for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch Series race in Mexico City — the first NASCAR Busch Series event held outside the United States — leading laps before yielding to eventual winner Martin Truex Jr. He made further Busch Series appearances for Hendrick in 2005 and 2006.

From 2007, Fernández shifted to endurance racing in the American Le Mans Series as part of an Acura factory effort in the LMP2 class, partnering with fellow Mexican Luis Díaz. In 2009, Fernández and Díaz won the LMP2 drivers' and teams' championships, taking their season-closing victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Fernández also competed multiple times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His 2007 debut with Barazi-Epsilon in LMP2 earned second in class — the first podium for a Mexican at the Circuit de la Sarthe in decades, recalling the achievements of Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez in 1962 and 1968. He competed in LMP1 with Aston Martin Racing in 2010 and 2011, and shared a third-place GTE-Pro finish with Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner in 2012. His FIA World Endurance Championship participation concluded at the end of the 2012 season.

Fernández retired from driving in 2012. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez honoured him in September 2016 by naming Turn 12 of the circuit after him. He subsequently became the manager of Formula One driver Sergio Pérez, announced in September 2012. In 2024, Fernández acquired the BRM P153/05, the Formula One car driven by Mexican idol Pedro Rodríguez to victory at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix. His 80 IROC starts over seven seasons demonstrated his competitiveness against top-tier drivers from multiple disciplines.