Carpentier wins Grand Prix of Monterey
Canadian Patrick Carpentier earned his first Champ Car victory of the season by taking the checkered flag at the Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday.
Carpentier of Joliette, Que., finished the Mazda Raceway course in one hour, 45 minutes and 51.116 seconds to claim his second straight Grand Prix of Monterey title.
Carpentier almost let the win slip from his grasp when he allowed his mind to wander in the closing laps, as the left-side wheels of his car hit the sand along the permanent asphalt track.
"That was about seven laps from the end," Carpentier said. "Sometimes the mind waves off and, this time, it waved off too much. I got two wheels off and almost lost it.
"I hoped nobody would see it, but the crew was hollering at me: 'Focus! Focus!' I thought, 'holy cow, that was close. That could have been bad."'
Carpentier hung on for his fifth career victory. Brazil's Bruno Junqueira of Brazil was second, followed by Spain's Oriol Servia.
Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que., was sixth, while Toronto's Paul Tracy was 10th.
Carpentier used fast pits and stayed out of trouble to win Sunday's race.
Tracy, the reigning Champ Car series champion, took over the lead when pole sitter Sebastien Bourdais made a pit stop to repair a flat tire. With Bourdais on the side, Carpentier trailed only his Forsythe Racing teammate Tracy.
Later in the race, Carpentier was able to stay on the track one lap longer than Tracy to came out ahead of his compatriot.
"We were behind Paul at the start and I couldn't pass him, so my guys told me to try to save fuel and we pitted a lap later," said Carpentier. "That was it."
Tracy later damaged the nose of his car on lap 37 of the 79-lap race, forcing him to make an extended pit stop. It left Carpentier unchallenged the rest of the way.
Bourdais finished eighth to hold onto his overall Champ Car season points lead with 275 points. Junqueira is second in the season standings with 251 points, while Tracy is third with 215.
Carpentier sits fourth with 214 and Tagliani is fifth with 201.
with files from Canadian Press