Fernandez Wins Provisional Pole With Gutsy Performance

The next time Adrian Fernandez has a tender tummy, he probably will jump into his race car and drive as fast as he can.

That was good for what ailed him Friday in qualifying for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The popular Mexican driver felt so much better after a few laps, in fact, that he won the provisional pole for Sunday’s race.

Driving a Reynard-Ford for Patrick Racing, Fernandez had a fast lap of 103.223 mph over the newly lengthened seaside street course, the best of the day among the 25 drivers who qualified.

Gil de Ferran, driving his backup car for qualifying after hitting the wall in his primary car during the morning practice session, was second fastest in his Team Penske Reynard-Honda at 103.212, and Team Rahal driver Max Papis, winner of the CART season opener last month at Homestead, Fla., was third in a Reynard-Ford.

Juan Montoya, defending Long Beach and series champion, was eighth in his Toyota-powered Lola, a new package for him, at 102.594. Last year, he drove one of Chip Ganassi’s Honda-powered Reynards, the combination that earned the last four championships for Ganassi.

Two more qualifying sessions today will give the other drivers opportunity to knock Fernandez off the pole, but they had better hope he’s feeling tip-top. He’s tough to beat when he’s feeling punk.

Earlier in the day, he had said he wasn’t feeling particularly well.

After qualifying he said, “When you jump into your car and it works right away, that makes you feel better. I feel much better now.”

Apparently it was something he ate that laid him low.

“I ate something Wednesday and two hours later I had this rash all over my body,” he said. “Yesterday, I spent all day in bed. I felt miserable, and I was getting a cold too. Right now, my body is just aching, but when I get in the race car I feel fine.”

Fernandez was unable to identify the offending foodstuff, but he was able to determine the cause of his delight, a just-about perfect car with plenty of power.

“I think we are going to give a lot of surprise this year with the Ford engine,” he said. “It’s got a lot of improvement, both in horsepower and drivability. I think if conditions don’t change, the track will get faster [today] but there’s something left in the car. We just have to make small changes. . . . I think we can be quicker tomorrow.”

The course, lengthened slightly to 1.97 miles this year because of construction near the Aquarium of the Pacific, drew mostly rave notices.

“Definitely, passing will be better,” Papis said. “[In the new part] there are two more opportunities to overtake [other cars]. You have more time to enjoy the circuit. Last year’s circuit was too many twists and turns and little place to pass.”

Said Christian Fittipaldi, the Newman-Haas driver who qualified 12th in a Lola-Ford, “I like the new parts of the track. It’s better because it’s quicker. There are medium-speed turns, which you didn’t have before. Now there will be more places to pass.”

There was, however, at least one dissenting voice. Trans-Am team owner Jim Derhaag, a former driver, said, “Basically, they’ve gone from Donald Duck to Mickey Mouse. . . . Most of the track is great and I’m glad the promoters were able to create a track around all the new construction, but the section around the fountain is just awful. It’s tight and I think people are going to get very impatient there.”

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CART will round out its North American schedule next season with a race in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Monterrey Grand Prix will be run early in the season over a new 1.9-mile closed road course in Fundidora Park near downtown Monterrey, Andrew Craig, CART chairman, announced. CART has not raced in Mexico since the early 1980s.

Car owner U.E. “Pat” Patrick will promote the race and Ron Dickson, president of Forsythe Racing, played a major role in the design and building of the course, targeted for completion in October. A date for the race has not been set, but it probably will be run in March, and CART is committed to five years at the new track.

Craig said it was too early to say whether the Monterrey race would simply be added to the schedule or would replace another race. CART this season is racing in Brazil, Japan and Australia, besides the U.S. and Canada.

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Actor Josh Brolin won the pole for today’s pro-celebrity race, turning a fast lap of 65.564 mph. That wasn’t as fast as former driver Derek Daly went, 66.280, but Daly, a pro, wasn’t eligible for the pole. In the 10-lap race, the pros give the celebrities a 30-second head start. All drive identically prepared Toyota Celicas.

Daniel Wheldon of Newport Beach won the provisional pole for the Toyota Atlantic race with a lap at 88.459 mph.

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The Facts

* What: Long Beach Grand Prix

* Where: Downtown Long Beach

* When: 1 p.m. Sunday

* TV: ESPN (delay, 2 p.m.)

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OTHER RACES

* Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race: Today, 12:45 p.m.

* Toyota Atlantic Race: today, 3:15 p.m.

* Dayton Indy Lights Race: Sunday, 10:15 a.m.

* Trans-Am Race: Sunday, 3:45 p.m.