Lowe’s Fernandez Racing will start first in class and third overall for tomorrow’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. This time it was Luis Diaz behind the wheel of the #15 Lowe’s Acura ARX as he claimed the second consecutive LMP2 pole position for the team on the heels of a strong run by Adrian Fernandez two weeks ago at Sebring.
Following a class win in the Twelve Hours of Sebring endurance classic, Fernandez and Diaz now focus their attention on a flat-out sprint race in St. Petersburg. On track incidents have hampered the efforts of both in two previous ALMS starts on the scenic temporary street circuit and the pair will be aiming for a better outcome this weekend. To date, their best results at St. Petersburg were a fourth-place class finish and sixth-place overall result in 2007.
Adrian Fernandez: “It has been a good day. We were fast in practice and qualifying, and the Mazdas are a lot closer. I have always said that Dyson is a strong team and once they work more with their new car and engine, they are going to definitely be a stronger threat and we expect a good fight here. Hopefully, we can come out on top.â€
Luis Diaz: “It’s a great feeling. The whole team did a good job in giving me a great car and the Michelin tires worked well. But we have to keep working because the Dyson team is getting closer. We knew that they were going to be strong here because, when we tested at Sebring on the short track, they were very competitive. For tomorrow, we need to work on the car to make it more consistent but I’m happy. We have a lot more weight this season and a smaller restrictor [due to the new rules] and I think a 65.1 [seconds] is a pretty decent time compared to last year. The race is going to a street fight and we have to keep the same mentality as Sebring and not make any mistakes in traffic and keep our nose clean.â€
