 Lowe's Fernandez Racing Heads To Utah
After a three-week break in the schedule, the American Le Mans Series returns to racing action this weekend with the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand & Little America Hotels. The state-of-the-art Miller Motorsports Park facility, located 35 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City, will host Round Four of competition albeit with a new challenge for this year. Teams used to contesting the 4.5-mile, 24-turn permanent road course will turn their first official laps on the 3.048-mile, 15-turn perimeter circuit.
Lowe’s Fernandez Racing drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz had their first look at the new configuration during a test day on April 30. Both felt the super-fast track would become a favorite among drivers and fans, and was well-suited for the team’s #15 Lowe’s Acura ARX-01b chassis.
Fernandez and Diaz were strong out of the box at Utah last year, qualifying third overall. The duo were unable to capitalize on a strong run despite Diaz taking the LMP2 class lead in the early stages. Fernandez, who was running second in class, suffered from two incidents of on-track contact which knocked the pair out of podium contention.
Race Notes:
• Circuit – 3.048-mile, 15-turn permanent road course
• Saturday’s race will last 2 hours 45 minutes with a 3:05 EST start
• A driver may not drive more than two hours total in the race
Of Note:
• Fernandez and Diaz started third overall and finished fifth in class at Utah last year
• Both Fernandez and Diaz competed at Miller Motorsports Park in the Grand-Am Series in 2006 with Diaz and then co-driver Scott Pruett starting on pole and finishing fourth; Fernandez was running third when he was eliminated by a mechanical problem with four hours remaining in the nine-hour race
• Following three rounds of ALMS competition, Fernandez and Diaz sit 12th in the point standings
• The pair claimed their best results of the season in the last event at Long Beach with a career-best second-place overall starting position and a sixth-place finish
• Fernandez and Diaz claimed three podiums and six top-five results in their ALMS debut last season
• Fernandez and wife Catalina welcomed their second child on Monday of this week, a son – Niko, who joins daughter Valentina, 1
FERNANDEZ ON THE NEW CONFIGURATION: “This is the fastest track we race on with the new configuration. It is very enjoyable for a driver because there are a lot of fast corners. You are pulling a lot of g’s, and I think every driver had neck problems at the test. I feel very confident and hopefully this will be our weekend. We always say the same things, but we are strong and it is just a matter of putting all the things together and I think it can happen this weekend. This is a really nice race track. It is very smooth. It is very challenging for the drivers because of the high speeds and also because the apexes and exits of the corners are very bland and it is not very easy to see some of the exits of the corners. It is about reference, and knowing your way around is very, very important. I think we have a good car. We had a good test and I feel pretty confident.
“For me, my son was born this week and will be home on Wednesday [today] so I will have time to get everything organized there and I can leave with no pressures.”
DIAZ ON THE CHALLENGES FOR THE WEEKEND: “This is one of the team’s favorite tracks, and last year was a good showing for us. We have the challenge of a different course this year but the nicest corners of the track remain in this new configuration. For us, it was a matter of learning one new corner at our test. This new configuration is quite a bit quicker, and our car was good. During our test, it was very, very cold. It won’t be like that for the race and that will be the main difference for us this weekend. I expect to have a lot less grip than in the test but we have a good car to start with on Friday. This is one of the tracks on the schedule that is very fast. It is a quick track like Sebring, so I am very confident this will be a good weekend for us. I like the fans a lot here in Utah. They have always been very supportive of the Lowe’s team and I am looking forward to our first official podium of the year.”
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, daughter Valentina and son Niko.
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 “Chapulín” (Cha-poo-leen) which means grasshopper.
About the #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 who 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 which includes victories in Champ Car, IndyCar Series and Grand-Am competition)
• John Ward, race engineer (is in is 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) | 
