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Qualifying 1: Fernandez keeps his cool

A somewhat subdued Champ Car qualifying session on the bumpy Denver street circuit saw Adrian Fernandez claim the provisional pole position and a guaranteed spot on the front row for Sunday's race.

Fernandez lapped the 1.65-mile track composed of parking lots and access roads in 62.073 seconds for an average speed of 95.520 mph. He credited his team's strategy of sending him out early in the session to get clear laps for his achievement.

"The strategy worked, but we also had a very good car," he remarked. "It's very rewarding after we had such a bad weekend at Montreal. The team had to build two new cars after a couple of heavy crashes, so it's great to come back like this."

Owner-driver Fernandez is still smarting from a broken pelvis he suffered in Vancouver five weeks ago.

"Every week it's getting better," he said. "A few weeks ago, it would have been impossible to drive, but I hope this signals the start of some good things for Fernandez Racing."

Christian Fittipaldi was second fastest in Friday qualifying, heading three drivers in the 1m02.4s bracket with a 1m02.440s lap.

"I'm very pleased," said the Brazilian. "But I'm upset that I never ran my second set of tyres and I think there is more in the car. Maybe I could have beat Adrian, maybe not. The car feels good, but it's jumping around all over the place. This is the bumpiest place we've been to this season and the race is going to be a test of survival, physically and mentally."

Third went to Tony Kanaan at 1m02.454s, despite two spins, the second of which tore the rear wing off his Lola-Honda. Kanaan had already lost his best lap when he stalled after an earlier spin, but he got away with his second incident because Bruno Junqueira had a more significant meeting with the Turn 1 tyre wall a few seconds earlier.

"I'm mad at myself - I can't blame anybody," Kanaan said. "The track is very slippery and the car isn't doing what I want it to do and it's up to me to figure it out. I'm not doing a very good job, but it's nice to be third after all that."

Scott Dixon was fourth in his Coors Light-liveried Lola-Toyota to head championship leader Cristiano da Matta (1m02.910s) and Junqueira (1m02.990s). Da Matta never got a run on his second set of tyres.

Dario Franchitti was an unhappy 12th at 1m03.619s. "We decided we had nothing to lose and made big changes to the car for the afternoon, but we didn't get enough laps to tell whether it made a difference," he said. "The bumps here are just too much for our cars. It's a joke. You expect some of that at a street course, but this is ridiculous."

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