Select manual gears, and then press 'N' (for nuetral) during the game when you reach top speed. You will now zoom around on the circuit.
At the start, turn the car around 180 degrees. The display should now show the "wrong direction" message. Head off under the bridge until you get to a split in the road. Take the right hand branch and keep going until you reach a checkpoint. Go through and turn the car through 180 degrees until your heading the other way. Go back through the checkpoint in the right direction and you should hear a ping. Keep going to the finish and once under the bridge let the clock run down to zero. You should now get a message saying that you've qualified for the race.