Fermín Vélez

Fermín Vélez (born April 3, 1959 in Barcelona ; † March 31, 2003 there ) was a Spanish racing car driver .

Career

After his first attempts at motorsport in kart racing, the Spaniard's professional racing career began late in 1978. At the age of 29, he was one of the oldest drivers on the international Formula 3 scene at the end of the 1970s . Although he was active in several Formula 3 racing series, there were hardly any countable successes. The career stalled. Since there was no prospect of further advancement in the European monoposto sport, he drove mountain races at the beginning of the 1980s due to a lack of sponsorship funds , because there the financial needs were far lower than in circuit racing . In 1982 he won the overall touring car classification of the Spanish hill climb championship on a Simca 1000 rally . In 1985 he became Spanish mountain champion of all classes on a Lola T292 .

Vélez did not start racing until the mid-1980s, in 1986 for the team of former racing driver John Fitzpatrick in the sports car world championship , in the same year he also made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . A year later a works contract with Spice Engineering followed .

He celebrated his greatest successes in US sports car racing. In 1995 he won the drivers' championship in the IMSA World Sports Car Championship, the successor to the IMSA GTP series, in a Ferrari 333SP . From 1990 to 1998 he competed there 58 times, celebrated eleven race victories and was on the podium of the top three a total of 34 times, which made him one of the top drivers at the IMSA. In 1995 and 1997 he won the Sebring 12-hour race and came second in the Daytona 24-hour race in 1997 .

He also had success in the US in a single posto. Has competed twice in the Indianapolis 500 miles . In 1995 he dropped out and reached tenth place two years later on a Dallara Oldsmobile.

His last great success was the overall victory in the Spanish GTB Championship in 2000. At the end of the year he fell ill with cancer and had to stop his racing activities. In March 2003 he died in his hometown of Barcelona after a long and serious illness.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1986	John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956B	Emilio de Villota	George Fouché	Rank 4
1987	Spice engineering	Spice SE86C	Gordon Spice	Philippe de Henning	Rank 6 and class win
1989	Chamberlain Engineering	Spice SE88C	Nick Adams	Luigi Taverna	failure	Valve damage
1990	Spice engineering	Spice SE90C	Tim Harvey	Chris Hodgetts	Rank 18
1996	Rocket Sports Racing	Ferrari 333SP LM	Andy Evans	Yvan Muller	failure	no petrol
1998	Doyle Risi Racing	Ferrari 333SP	Wayne Taylor	Eric van de Poele	Rank 8 and class win

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1990	Spice Engineering USA	Spice SE90P	Tomas Lopez	Richard Piper		Rank 14
1991	Bieri Racing	Spice SE89P	Martino Finotto	Ruggero Melgrati		failure	accident
1992	Scandia Motorsports	Kudzu DG-2	Andy Evans	Jay Cochran		failure	suspension
1995	Scandia Motorsports	Ferrari 333SP	Andy Evans	Eric van de Poele		Overall victory
1997	Team Scandia	Ferrari 333SP	Andy Evans	Yannick Dalmas	Stefan Johansson	Overall victory
1998	Doyle-Risi Racing	Ferrari 333SP	Wayne Taylor	Eric van de Poele		failure	Wagon fire

Web links

• Vélez at the Driver Database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Vélez's successes in the USA
2. ↑ Fermin Vélez passed away