The Lowe's Fernandez Racing driving stable of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz head to St. Petersburg, Fla., this week with a vengeance as the duo prepare for their second appearance in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. Round 2 of 2008 American Le Mans Series competition highlights a doubleheader of racing action this weekend as the sports cars share the circuit with the IndyCar Series, which will contest the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday.
The 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit on the waterfront is as challenging as it is scenic. Last year, Fernandez and Diaz left no doubt as to their competitiveness on the tight and fast course from the start of on-track activities. Following an edge-of-the-seat lap in qualifying, Fernandez placed the No. 15 Lowe's Acura fourth overall on the starting grid. On race day, the pair was headed for their first win in ALMS competition, but the tables turned with 50 minutes remaining after Diaz was controversially assessed a penalty for "avoidable contact" with a lapped car.
Fernandez and Diaz return to St. Petersburg with a score to settle not only from last year's race, but also from misfortune in the recent season opener at Sebring, which disqualified a second-place overall podium finish. The No. 15 Lowe's Acura ARX-01b failed a "stall" test in post-race technical inspection.
THE RACE
Circuit: 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit
Saturday's race will last one hour and 55 minutes with a 1:25 pm EST start
A driver may not drive more than one hour, 20 minutes total in the race
OF NOTE
St. Petersburg will mark the fourth outing with the team's new chassis -- the No. 15 Lowe's Acura ARX-01b LMP2 prototype -- following two tests and the race at Sebring.
Fernandez and Diaz claimed their best results on a temporary street circuit at St. Petersburg and Detroit last year with fourth-place finishes in the LMP2 class.
Fernandez has made one additional prior career start at St. Petersburg, contesting the 2003 Champ Car race.
Fernandez and Diaz claimed three podiums and six top-five results in their ALMS debut last season.
QUOTABLE
FERNANDEZ ON RETURNING TO RACING ACTION: "I can assure you that we will be coming like a bull for St. Petersburg. We've put Sebring behind us, but I will say that we were by far the best car on the track with consistency throughout that race, and this has us very excited for the season. We know that we have a fast car and that we will be fighting for wins. I thoroughly enjoy the St. Petersburg circuit and it is such a great setting. Hopefully the fans will enjoy what will be a flat-out sprint race. I am more than ready to get back to racing and show what this team is capable of this year."
DIAZ ON ST. PETERSBURG: "For me, the race last year was a heartbreaker. I was leading and running my race, and a car that was four laps down opened and then closed the door on me going into turn 1. The win slipped out of our hands because of the penalty. I am going to try to right it this year. I am really excited for this weekend with our new car. It felt fantastic in Sebring, and the whole team has a lot of momentum heading into Saturday."
ABOUT THE DRIVERS
Adrian Fernandez ... enters second season of ALMS competition claiming three podiums and six top-five finishes in 2007 debut ... is a veteran of 12 years at the top levels of open-wheel competition, winning in both Champ Car (CART) and IndyCar Series (IRL) competition ... debuted in sports car competition in 2006, winning the Mid-Ohio Rolex Sports Car Series race and claiming four additional top-five finishes ... began competing in select NASCAR Busch Series events in 2005, driving for Team Lowe's Racing and Hendrick Motorsports ... finished fifth in the IndyCar Series championship in his inaugural season in 2004 with three wins ... missed the 2000 Champ Car championship crown by only 10 points, finishing second in the series to Gil de Ferran ... has garnered numerous awards over the years, including "Athlete of the Year in Mexico" ... named one of Mexico's 300 most influential people by a national magazine in 2006 ... 44 years old from Mexico City ... resides in Scottsdale, Ariz., with wife Catalina and daughter Valentina.
Luis Diaz ... enters second season of ALMS competition claiming three podiums and six top-five finishes in 2007 debut ... entered sports car competition in 2004, netting eight wins in the Grand-Am series over three years as well as Rolex Sports Car Series Team Championship honors in 2006 and a second-place result in the driver championship co-driving with Scott Pruett ... was named "Driver of the Year" in Mexico in 2006 ... won the Mexico Formula 3 championship in 1998 ... earned Rookie of the Year honors in the Indy Lights Pan-American Championship, Mexico Formula 3 Championship and Formula Reynard Series Mexico ... U.S. open-wheel success includes a fourth-place finish in the 2002 Atlantic championship ... began racing go-karts at the age of 12, winning several national championships ... 30 years old from Mexico City ... resides in Toluca, Mexico, with wife Carolina ... nickname is "Chapul�n" (Cha-poo-leen), which means grasshopper.
ABOUT THE NO. 15 LOWE'S ACURA ARX
Powered by the 3.4-liter Acura LM-V8 engine
Chassis is the Acura ARX-01b, the latest version of the ARX-01a chassis, which was developed by HPD (Honda Performance Development) through a technical partnership with Wirth Research in England
Tires are Michelin
LOWE'S FERNANDEZ RACING KEY PERSONNEL
Tom Anderson, co-owner/managing director (founded Fernandez Racing with Fernandez in 2000)
Steve Miller, general manager (eighth year with the team; reunited with Diaz, whom he worked with in 2000 in Indy Lights)
Mike Sales, team manager (as a chief mechanic, has had a decade-long relationship with Adrian Fernandez that includes victories in Champ Car, IndyCar Series and Grand-Am competition)
John Ward, race engineer (is in his ninth year as a race engineer for Adrian Fernandez; designer of many Eagle chassis for Dan Gurney's All American Racers, including the Eagle Mk III IMSA GTP car, which won the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 1992 and 1993)
Tony Leith, chief mechanic (eighth season with the team; was a lead and chief mechanic in ALMS in the late '90s with Panoz Motorsports)
ALMS SCHEDULE (all times EST)
Friday, April 4
Practice, 8:05-9:05 a.m.
Practice, 1:05-2:05 p.m.
Qualifying, 2:45-3:05 p.m.
Saturday, April 5
Warmup, 9:25-9:50 a.m.
Race, 1:25-3:20 p.m.
TV: ABC, live 1:30 pm EST; Fox/SPEED Latin America
