DENVER, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Adrian Fernandez captured the provisional pole Friday for the Shell Grand Prix of Denver, CART's first stop here in 11 years.
The 37-year-old Mexican drove his Honda/Lola around the 1.622-mile temporary street circuit in 1 minute, 2.037 seconds for an average speed of 95.520 miles per hour.
If Fernandez maintains his position after Saturday's final qualifying session, he will start on the pole for the third time this season. He can be bumped no deeper than second.
"The car didn't feel good, but we were fast compared to the rest," Fernandez said. "We haven't done really much since this morning. We tried something in the 10 minutes that we had for qualifying. I didn't like it, so we went back to what we had in the morning."
He also won the pole at Monterrey and Milwaukee in two of the season's first four races. But the only owner-driver on the CART circuit is seeking his first win since the penultimate race of the 2000 season in Australia.
Fernandez is a distant 15th in the CART standings, 121 points behind Brazil's Cristiano da Matta.
"I'm not ready to throw (in) the towel," Fernandez said. "Even though I'm getting older, I still feel strong. This year, I have a trainer so I can completely take half of the day off. I don't have to get involved in the business side of racing and things like that. For one or the other reason, things happen. We haven't got the results that we wanted."
Another Brazilian, Christian Fittipaldi, had Friday's second-fastest lap at 94.958 mph. Countryman Tony Kanaan was third at 94.937 mph despite backing into the tire wall near the end of the session.
"I think it was completely my mistake," Kanaan said. "Both times I spun and I lost my fast lap twice. I guess I didn't do a good job this weekend so far. I'm not saying I had the pole, (but it) definitely wasn't a nice feeling to make two mistakes."
Scott Dixon and da Matta completed the top five qualifiers.
