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Former Fernandez boss joins Andretti

Former Fernandez Racing co-owner Tom Anderson has joined Andretti Autosport as senior vice-president of racing operations

Anderson was the managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing through the 1990s, playing an integral part in the team's domination of the Champ Car World Series between 1996 and 1999.

He then joined forces with Mexican driver Adrian Fernandez to form Fernandez Racing, in which Anderson held the title of co-owner and managing director. The team was a race winner in Champ Car and the IndyCar Series, before focusing on sportscars in recent years, but a lack of sponsorship meant it closed its doors after winning this year's American Le Mans Series LMP2 title.

"I'm very excited to be joining Andretti Autosport," said Anderson. "This is a great race team with a lot of very good people and I'm looking forward to working with everyone.

"Our goals are simple; we want to win races and win championships. That's why we're here and that's what we need to focus on every day."

The former Andretti Green team is being reorganised this winter, with Michael Andretti taking sole charge and his former partners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree departing to focus on AGR's now-separate race organisation business, which runs the St Petersburg and Toronto street races.

Andretti said he was thrilled to bring Anderson to his team, having worked with him at Ganassi in 1994.

"He's a guy that I have a tonne of respect for, and I think he's just going to bring so much to our team," said Andretti.

"He's seen it all. He's won everything. So you have that experience. He's coming in here to add to our talent pool - we have a tonne of talent here, and I think he's here to hopefully not change things but just hone things and make us better than we are now.

"It's always been a goal of mine to work again with Tom. Back when I was searching for teams to get involved with, I actually talked with him about getting involved with me, but unfortunately he had already done a deal with Adrian at that time.

"We've always kept in touch, and it was just one of those things where it seemed like everything just dropped out perfect. Fernandez Racing was getting ready to part ways, and we were having our changes here, so it was like perfect timing, and it just worked out good."

Andretti's team took Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti to IndyCar titles in the mid-2000s, but has endured two tough seasons, having last won a race at Richmond in June 2008.

The squad has confirmed Kanaan, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti for next year, and is expected to sign Ryan Hunter-Reay for its fourth car.

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