American Le Mans Series

Lowe’s Fernandez Racing on Row Two in Detroit

© Fernández Racing

Adrian Fernandez qualified the #15 Lowe’s Acura ARX fourth overall this afternoon for Saturday’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch at Belle Isle Raceway. This is the fourth time this season that Fernandez and Luis Diaz have started on the first two rows of the grid, and today’s result marks their seventh top-five class qualifying effort in the eight races held to date.

Intermittent rain showers throughout the day provided a challenge with Fernandez and most of the ALMS field turning their first laps on slick [dry] tires during the 20-minute qualifying session. Fernandez and Diaz were on pace in the wet setting the third-fastest time overall in the opening 90-minute practice session.

Tomorrow’s two-hour 45-minute race will mark Fernandez’s 11th career start at Belle Isle and the third for Diaz. The pair are coming off their best result of the year with a second-place class result at Mosport last weekend, and are currently 26 points out of third place in the championship standings.

Qualifying Results (Overall):
1. Brabham/Sharp – LMP2 Acura ARX 1:13.483 = 101.411 mph
2. Pagenaud/de Ferran – LMP2 Acura ARX 1:13.660 = 101.168 mph
3. Smith/Dyson – LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder 1:14.209 = 100.419 mph
4. Fernandez/Diaz – LMP2 Lowe’s Acura ARX 1:14.380 = 100.188 mph

Adrian Fernandez, #15 Lowe’s Acura ARX: “I think it was a good qualifying effort. We didn’t practice in the dry, and I think we were one of the fastest cars in the rain. Our first practice in the dry was qualifying and I thought we were going to have a good car because the car was quite good in the rain. But we had a little too much push and you don’t really have time to change things on the car in qualifying. We’re fourth and, in the end, I think it is a good starting point for tomorrow. The race will be about keeping the car consistent with the tires and everything. Last year, that was one of our problems. Obviously, we will make some adjustments for warm-up, but I think we have a good car. If we can get more from the front [of the car] and keep it consistent, I think we will surprise people tomorrow.”

Luis Diaz, #15 Lowe’s Acura ARX: “It was a complicated day with the weather. We are starting on the second row in fourth place – the same as Mosport and we almost won that one. We are in a pretty good place and it should be a good race for us. Personally, I think it will be a sprint race all the way and it will be down to strategy big time.”