Sergio Pérez: Formula One Comes Home to Guadalajara

Think Mexico and Formula One and a name immediately comes to mind: Sergio Pérez! The championship BMW Sauber driver is gearing up for the 2011 opening, in the Australian Grand Prix. But first he is coming home, to Guadalajara, in Jalisco, to demonstrate his skills in a city-wide race.


Sergio Pérez
This Saturday, February 26th, Sergio Pérez will be driving last season's C29 car through the streets of Guadalajara. In a specially laid out curcuit, the action will pass by the City Hall and the Cathedral.

He told Formula1.com, "This will be a very special day for me, being at home with my family and all my friends, and running the Formula One car in the city. This will be an additional boost for my motivation before leaving for Bahrain."

As a rising star, Sergio Pérez has had a fantastic career to date. At just 20 years old, he won four races for the Barwa Addax Team, to place second in the 2010 GP2 Series. He had previously been its youngest ever driver to win a race. In 2007, Sergio was the British F3 champion. Then, in October last year, it was announced that he had been snapped up by German Formula One giants, Sauber, for the 2011 Season. He will be Kamui Kobayashi's driving partner.


Sergio Pérez
Sergio, who celebrated his 21st birthday on January 26th, isn't the only car-racing celebrity to be born in the city. His elder brother, Antonio Pérez, is a star of the NASCAR Corona Series. He was its champion in 2008. It will be two for the price of one, on Saturday, as Antonio will also be demonstrating the stock-racing skills that made him famous. They will be bringing with them another NASCAR legend, Germán Quiroga.

Germán Quiroga and Antonio Pérez have spent the last few series head to head, in adrenaline fuelled races; each putting in their all to try and beat each other to take home the NASCAR championship title. For the past two years, it has been Quiroga who took the trophy. However, they will arrive in Guadalajara as best buddies, showing off their cars and treating the crowds to some high-speed racing.


Antonio Pérez

Guadalajara's organizers have laid out a 1.5km (0.9m) circuit through the city's streets. It's all a far cry from the childhood of the brothers Pérez, which Sergio remembers as an eight year old, go-karting close to home, as his first foray into driving. The brothers are thrilled to be home and participating in such an event. "Mexico is hugely excited about the coming season," Sergio said. "It's great we can offer the people an event like this in the run-up to it."

So, see you in Guadalajara on Saturday then?

Edit: You can read a report about this event on Checkered Flag: Perez Receives Ecstatic Reception in Mexico.