Fernandez jumps ship.

Fernandez Racing has make the shock revelation that owner-driver Adrian Fernandez will compete in the 2004 IRL Series rather than the OWRS-run Champ Car World Series.

Despite attending the pre-season Champ Car 'premiere' in Long Beach earlier this week, the ever-popular Mexican has opted to switch codes, beginning with
next weekend's Indy 200 Copper World Classic in Phoenix. Fernandez will drive a Honda-powered Panoz/G-Force chassis with sponsorship from long-time supporters Quaker State, Telmex and Tecate and new partner Aceros Vilag.

"Obviously, this is a big move for us - particularly at this late stage," Fernandez admitted, "We have reviewed a lot of things the past few days, and had to take a hard look at what we know at this point in time to determine what is best for our sponsors and the future of Fernandez Racing. With the support of Quaker State, Telmex, Tecate and Aceros Vilag, we have made the decision to enter the IRL.

"Personally, it is never easy to make a decision like this, particularly when you factor in the friendships and relationships that have developed over many years, not only for myself, but everyone at Fernandez Racing. I will always be thankful for my years in Champ Car racing, where they have taken me in my career and for the tremendous support of the fans along the way."

Fernandez will now link up with Super Aguri Fernandez Racing, the satellite IRL team formed in conjunction with ex-F1 driver Aguri Suzuki to run Roger Yasukawa in the 2003 series. The team currently fields rookie Kosuke Matsuura in the #55 Panasonic ARTA Panoz/G-Force, while Fernandez's campaign will be run under the Fernandez Racing banner.

"We are extremely excited to once again have our team's efforts focused on one championship which includes the Indianapolis 500," said Tom Anderson, team owner and managing director of the operation, "This is a tremendous step, reuniting our great sponsors from Japan and Mexico. We sincerely appreciate the effort all of them have put forth in order to make this possible."

Fernandez will make his IRL debut in the second event of 16 this year, having missed out on Homestead, but has not raced at Phoenix since 1995.

"It is an understatement to say we have a lot of work to do in the next eleven days," he stressed, "I'm sure there will be challenges, but we have a very experienced team - in both Fernandez Racing and Super Aguri Fernandez Racing - and will be able to help each other. It will definitely be an asset to run a two-car team and be able to build off each other.

"I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends next week at Phoenix - Tony [Kanaan], Dario [Franchitti], Helio [Castroneves], Bryan [Herta], Darren [Manning], Michael [Andretti]... I am also looking forward to returning to Motegi, where I have won twice, next month - and also to the month of May and the Indy 500. We are hitting the ground running and I know we will have a lot of support along the way."