Fernandez looking to end European tour on a high.

Round five of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford marks a return to the state-of-the-art EuroSpeedway Lausitz after a year's absence due to the track's recent financial difficulties.

Located an hour south of Berlin, the circuit will host the first oval race of the 2003 schedule with practice and qualifying for the two-day venue beginning this Saturday.

Round five of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford marks a return to the state-of-the-art EuroSpeedway Lausitz after a year's absence due to the track's recent financial difficulties.

Located an hour south of Berlin, the circuit will host the first oval race of the 2003 schedule with practice and qualifying for the two-day venue beginning this Saturday.

It has been eight months since Adrian Fernandez last drove on an oval, and Champ Car's only competing owner/driver is looking forward to finishing CART's European leg on a high note after a difficult weekend at Brands Hatch, where he finished 12th.

"This is a fantastic race track and facility, and the fans are great," said Fernandez, who had to retire from CART's first trip to the two-mile German oval with engine problems. "When we were here in 2001, it was a very emotional time with everything that was happening back in the States and here. I am really looking forward to seeing Alex [Zanardi] this weekend, and it will be very special to see him finish his laps from the race two years ago.

"With the aero [aerodynamic] package that we will be running, it will be an interesting race. I think there will be close racing and it is definitely going to be more competitive. Hopefully we will be in a position to bank some more points. We had a good car at Brands Hatch but it just wasn't our day. It would be great to end our European trip on the podium."

Fernandez will be trying to score his fifth career Champ Car oval victory on Sunday, his first since winning in CART's last visit to the Rio de Janeiro oval in 2000.

Fernandez Racing Race Engineer David Watson estimates top speeds of 194 mph and minimum speeds of 184 mph around the 2.023-mile tri-oval. New aerodynamic rules were implemented for Brands Hatch and EuroSpeedway, whereby what is qualified at Brands Hatch is raced at EuroSpeedway Lausitz. Watson estimates that drivers will be flat [no lifting] around the circuit with no shifting. With the five degrees of banking, drivers will pull 3.5 Lateral G-force in the corners.

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