The Lowes Fernandez Acura was the top qualifier for LMP2.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fl —  The Lowes Fernandez LMP2 Acura RX, with its decisive win at the 12 hours of Sebring two weeks ago in the ALMS season opener, will go from the hunted to hunter as it drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz  seek a second straight victory against the hard charging Lola B09 86Mazdas that are hungry to taste victory circle.

Even though they wear the target of the winner, and again had top qualifying time for the LMP2 class, Fernandez, the veteran driver-owner of the car notes,” You have to approach every race the same way. Always, you have to race smart and be prepared to deal with traffic.” Although the field has dwindled from the field at Sebring, the short, tight St. Pete course will undoubtedly give Fernandez and Diaz a challenge to deal with traffic.

Fernandez is also wise enough to realize that last week’s winner may be this weeks road kill and added,” You can never rest and think that you are going to have an advantage. We just have to keep working. This morning in practice, for example, our fastest laps (against the Mazdas) were very close. We just have to keep doing what we have been doing. We have more experience with the car this year. Last year, our problem wasn’t with speed. It was in finishing races and that is what we are focusing on now. ”

On-track incidents have hampered the efforts of both in two previous ALMS starts on the scenic temporary street circuit and the pair will be aiming for a better outcome this weekend. To date, their best results at St. Petersburg were a fourth-place class finish and sixth-place overall result in 2007.

However, Fernandez and Diaz hope that the lessons of last year will pay dividends this year. Diaz who drove the car to top time in the LMP2 class and third fastest time overall, just a second-and-a-half behind the big brother Acura ARX 02as knows that they have to find a fine line behind an all-out banzai of the course and agressive driving that fits the tight, scenic course.

“This will be our first real sprint race of the season. We have to be a lot more aggressive than Sebring because this is a short race. We have to work on the car to make it a little bit more on the limit and not as safe as Sebring handling-wise.

“At Sebring we were more conservative and, for example, we didn’t even touch the curbs there to try to save the car. Here, we will pound the car more on the curbs. We will be risking quite a bit more than Sebring but that is the mindset that we have now – to be more aggressive and make the car as quick as we can.”

In other action, the two Acura ARX 02as took top time in the LMP1 class, unhindered by any real competition with the loss of both the Peugeots and Audis from the field (to prepare for Le Mans). The only other LMP1 car in the field, the Lola B06/10 had a bad day qualifying, finishing off the pace in sixth place overall.

Jaime Melo in the Risi Competizione Ferarri 430 Berlinetti GT led a passle of GT2 cars with the top time for the class, coming after their stiring win at Sebring. However, the Porsche and BMW teams were not far off the pace and will 11 entries in the race, should see significant competion.