Fernandez ALMS Pole Winner At Long Beach
by Joe Jennings
4/16/2010

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Long Beach, Calif. - Adrian Fernandez flashed around the Long Beach street course in a time of 1:13.213 seconds to take the pole position for Saturday's Tequila Patron American LeMans Series race, the second event of the 2010 season.

SPEED will telecast the race at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday evening.

The pole winner drove the Aston Martin Racing Lola B09 60. Harold Primat of Switzerland co-drives with Fernandez.

Said Fernandez about his fourth career pole, "I was on the limit on that last lap, and to be on the pole is very special. Coming to a new team this year and performing this way is very good. We are carrying a lot of momentum coming out of our second place (finish) at Sebring."

Second fast qualifier was Simon Pagenaud in the Patron Highcroft Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-01c. David Brabham is Pagenaud's co-driver.

Third fastest in qualifying was Chris Dyson in the BP/Castrol/Arco/Mazda Lola B09 86. Guy Smith share's driving duties with Dyson.

In the LMPC class, Christophe Bouchut grabbed the pole in the Level 5 Motorsports Oreca FLM09. Regarding his first pole, Bouchut said, "It is a good feeling to be in this position, and we didn't have any problems at all. The team did a great job, and the car was wonderful to drive." Second in class was Gunnar Jeannette in the Green Earth Technologies Oreca FLM09, .247 seconds off the pole.

Third fastest in LMPC was J. R. Hildebrand in the Genoa Racing Oreca FLM09, .913 seconds behind.

In the GT class, Jaime Melo raced the Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT to the top spot with a time of 1:19.581 seconds, giving him his 15th career pole position. "Qualifying was really good, and that was the maximum we could get from the car," the Brazilian driver said.

Wolf Henzler qualified second in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, and Johnny O'Connell gained the third-fastest position in a factory Chevrolet Corvette.

Jeroen Bleekemolen of Monaco took the pole award for the GT Challenge class.

Andy Lally, a last minute addition, qualified second fastest in another Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. And James Sofronas was third quick in a similar Porsche 911 CT3 Cup car.





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