| Fernando Rees | |
|---|---|
 Rees in Interlagos, 2007 |
|
| Nationality |  Brazilian |
| Date of birth | January 4, 1985 |
| Place of birth | São Paulo, São Paulo State (Brazil) |
| 2010 Le Mans Series | |
| Debut season | 2007 |
| Current team | Barazi-Epsilon |
| Car no. | 32 |
| Starts | 6 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
Fernando Rees (born: January 4, 1985 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian racecar driver. He started his career in motor racing back in 1993 at age 8, and has recently competed in the most celebrated international championships. Rees currently has 15 years of racing experience and is a quick driver capable of competing well in today's advanced race cars.
In late 2003, Fernando made a good impression to Mercedes-Benz in a private test of the German manufacturer in the Portuguese circuit of Estoril. On December 11th 2003, Mercedes-Benz had organized a Formula 3 test among its official client teams of Formula 3 Euroseries. Only six drivers were selected to take part in the test: Fernando Rees, Robert Kubica, Jamie Green, Bruno Spengler, Alexandre Premat and Adrian Sutil.[1] In the test day, Fernando topped the time sheets driving the ASM Mercedes-Benz car.[2] Later, Ron Dennis chosen the ASM Mercedes-Benz team for Lewis Hamilton to drive in the Formula 3 Euroseries, and Fernando was forced to look elsewhere to compete.[3][4]
After four years competing in the major single-seater categories in Europe (2001 – 2005), and having proved himself driving for the low budget team Interwetten.com in World Series by Renault during its 2005 season, Fernando was awarded a test in the renowned Italian dream Draco Racing in the winter of that same year. With more than 30 drivers on track, including 2005 season champion Robert Kubica, Rees lead the field in the demanding track of Valencia with more than half a second gap to Pastor Maldonado, who emerged second. The test opened new doors for the Brazilian driver.[5][6]
But in early 2006, at the Italian circuit of Monza, Fernando was unfortunately involved in a shunt during a Formula 3000 International Masters test day, under heavy rain, and was seriously injured.[7] Fernando had two broken vertebrae, a broken ankle and other excoriations in both legs. As a consequence, Rees was away from motor racing for 18 months.
With his convalescence complete, Fernando made his sportscar debut in the last Le Mans Series event of 2007, the Mil Milhas of Interlagos.[8] Racing for Larbre Compétition with an Aston Martin DBR9, together with drivers Roland Berville, Gregor Fisken and Steve Zacchia, Fernando took a clear win in the GT1 class after almost nine hours of racing.[9]
Fernando made his debut in the LMP2 class of Le Mans Series in the second round of the 2008 championship, in Monza. Returning to the place of his huge accident back in 2006 for the first time, Fernando had a strong pace racing for the Barazi-Epsilon team alongside drivers Juan Barazi and the experienced Michael Vergers. Fernando Rees had taken over from Juan Barazi for the second stint in the race, and was immediately quick, recording the car's fastest lap. [10] An "ever-improving" Fernando got progressively quicker during the 2008 Le Mans Series season, becoming recognized as the fastest driver of the team. [11] But a "black cat" surrounded the Barazi-Epsilon team during the 2008 season. With starting positions between second and fourth during the whole season, mechanical problems (in Spa-Francorchamps) and racing accidents (two by Michael Vergers in Barcelona and Monza, and two by Juan Barazi in Nurburgring and Silverstone) resulted in a frustrating season with the team's best result an eighth place in Nurburgring. [12]
In 2009, Fernando signed once again with the Barazi-Epsilon team in the LMP2 class of Le Mans Series. This season, the team decided to run a two drivers team, with Rees and Juan Barazi. But soon ater the second race of the season, in Spa-Francorchamps, the team announced its retirement from the 2009 Le Mans Series championship because of financial problems. [13] Fernando was left without a team to race for the remaining races of the season. It is currently unclear where he will race in 2010.
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Fernando Rees also became a known figure among the international sim-racing online communities. His debut in online sim-racing is said to be in the 2001, in the Little Formula Racing Series (LFRS) league, at the time the top level of online sim-racing for the computer simulator Grand Prix series.
Rees was a present in the most well-known sim-racing leagues between 2001 and 2006, proving to be competent in simulators such as the Grand Prix series (Grand Prix 2, Grand Prix 3 and Grand Prix 4), Nascar Racing Series (by Papyrus Racing Games), F1 Challenge '99-'02 (by EA Sports) and later in the GTR FIA Racing series (GTR and GTR2).
His dozens of records and results are still online in the different league’s archives [14], and can be downloaded and watched using the appropriate simulators. Many of Rees’ laps are still celebrated in the sim-racing environment, especially in the Grand Prix series communities.
In an interview in November 27th of 2006 [15], LFRS disclosed that Fernando Rees would be rejoining the Grand Prix 4 championship in the next season. This information was never confirmed.
Rees can now often be found racing on GTR2 and GTR: Evolution simulators in various servers and classes. Fernando actually joined the well-known GTR2 championship of Gamers-Crib in its Season 3 in the first semester of 2008, racing the events of Enna and Interlagos scoring two pole-positions and one win. [16] Fernando also competed in Gamers-Crib's Seasons 4 and 5, scoring a dozen of pole-positions and wins. Now in the Premier League, he is incontestably the quickest competitor in Gamers-Crib, with 7 pole-positions in 8 races. [17]
Fernando is also a frequent competitor in the Pilsbierbude servers in GTR2, having scored a long list of track records and race wins. [18]
  | Interlagos: Series race report - Motorsport.com: News channel |
| | Fernando Rees crashes heavily in testing - Fernando Rees crashes heavily in testing | Auto123.com |
| | Larbre Competition set for Brazilian finale - Planetlemans.com | Larbre Competition set for Brazilian finale |
| | GP4 2006 - Interview with Fernando Rees - Little Formula Racing Series - Grand Prix 4 |
| | Fernando Rees in control - Motorsport.com: News channel |
| | Monza: Zytek race report - Motorsport.com: News channel |
| | Rees dominates day one of WS test - Rees dominates day one of WS test | Cars News | 2005 | Crash.Net |
| | Fernando Rees, le nouvel atout de Barazi-Epsilon - Fernando Rees, le nouvel atout de Barazi-Epsilon - Endurance Info - Endurance Info WebSite |
| | LFRS Archive - Little Formula Racing Series - offline simracing competition |
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