Fernandez ninth after lap one accident in Toronto.

Adrian Fernandez made the best of a first lap incident to finish ninth at the Molson Indy Toronto on Sunday.

Fernandez, who started 10th, lost seven positions at the start after being hit from behind going into Toronto's tricky turn three after Darren Manning and Jimmy Vasser collided just ahead of him.

Although the 38 year-old team owner/driver was able to continue with minor damage to the #51 Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex sponsored Lola-Ford, slightly deranged suspension left him with an ill-handling car throughout the 112-lap race.

Even so, the 1996 Toronto winner managed to keep his place on the lead lap and survived another near-miss when Mario Dominguez spun and tried to rejoin directly in front of his fellow Mexican countryman.

"The start was pretty intense," commented Fernandez afterwards. "A lot of people almost crashed going into Turn One. I managed to go through there cleanly. I passed [Jimmy] Vasser and I don't know what happened. Somebody hit me in the back and spun me around. Basically there was just a big knot of cars there [in Turn Three]. We had some damage to the right rear under vane [flugal], which cost me some downforce.

"Thankfully I was able to continue but the car was a little loose. I made four or five passes going into Turn One and Turn Eight and was back to my original position. I was fighting hard with Darren Manning and twice we were side by side and it was very close. I couldn't pass him and he managed to open up a few car lengths.

"Mario [Dominguez] made a mistake in one of the back corners and took his rear wing off. In the process, he almost took me out. I almost hit him. I lost probably six or eight seconds to Manning and that was the breaking point for me to keep touch with the leaders. In general, the car wasn't as good as I wanted but we had some damage and that didn't help our pace in the race. I think we could have finished in the top six if we wouldn't have had that first lap incident."

"It was interesting," added Fernandez Racing co-owner and managing director Tom Anderson philosophically. "Many, many things happened this weekend. To begin with, we started with a car setup that was totally different than what we have ever tried to run before. The weather set us back a little bit on our learning curve. We only really had two dry sessions and we had too much push in the first one, and were too loose in the second one. We had it pretty right for the race.

"In reality, we would have been able to hold our spot and improve had we been in our starting position after Lap One. That wasn't to be today, and the yellows didn't help us out. I'm sure that, as good as the car was, it would have been a different outcome had we been able to stay with the lead pack. Our pit stops were great and I'm sure we could have raced with those guys.

"Circumstances are what they are and I am really proud of these guys. They worked hard this weekend and we learned an awful lot. I think this could be a turning point for the second half of the season. Even though the result wasn't what we wanted today, I am still extremely happy with what we have learned this weekend."

Fernandez's ninth place finish was his eighth top ten effort in ten starts in the Canadian City and added four points to his season tally. With nine races still to go in 2003, the 2000 series runner-up is seventh in the standings with 69 points, less than 20 behind fourth placed Patrick Carpentier.