Canadian Champ Car driver Patrick Carpentier has been knocking on Victory Lane’s door throughout the 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, but until he arrived at the picturesque Monterey Peninsula in central California his efforts were in vain, even as he stayed in title contention. However, an impressive win in the heat of California last night rectified all that.
Starting second on the 18-car grid in his Forsythe Lola, the Canadian watched as his challengers fell by the wayside to lead 40 of the 79 laps en route to victory over Bruno Junqueira’s Newman Haas Lola, which finished more than five seconds in arrears. It was the second consecutive win at this track for Carpentier, who at one point led by 22 seconds. “I love the new soft compound Bridgestone tyres,” he said. “They really hook the car up well!” Carpentier had saved fuel during the early exchanges, waiting for teammate Paul Tracy to stop earlier, before making his own. “I pushed as hard as I could to run a very fast lap and we just gained our momentum from that point on.”
Junqueira earned his 23rd podium and seventh in 11 races this year, despite crashing in Saturday morning practice and starting a relatively lowly eighth on the grid. “I knew I had to finish and had to run in a strong position,” Junqueira said. He gained on teammate and point leader Sebastien Bourdais, who finished eighth in the other Newman Haas Lola and now trails his French team mate by just 251 points to 275. Bourdais had been in line for repeating his Denver comeback drive until he collected Roberto Gonzalez at the Corkscrew and was forced to pit for a new nosecone.
An excellent third place went to Oriol Servia’s Dale Coyne Racing Lola, bringing the first podium to Dale Coyne Racing since Roberto Moreno’s shock 3rd at Michigan in 1996. The Catalonian suffered fuel system cutouts and a coming together with AJ Allmendinger at the infamous Corkscrew turn. “We’ve been close in so many races that it is great to finally get the result,” he said.
Ru SPORTS Michel Jourdain Jr. earned fourth in his Lola and declared himself “happy with the result considering all the incidents at the start of the race.”
Those incidents included Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais touching at the first turn, forcing the Frenchman to pit after sustaining a puncture. Tracy, who led in the early running lost time with another incident and eventually finished in 10th place.
Ryan Hunter-Reay took his best finish in the Herdez Lola since Road America with a fifth-place result, while Alex Tagliani, like so many recovered from early incidents to take sixth in the Rocketsports Lola.
The Champ Cars have their second visit to an oval on September 25th when they go to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway for round 12 of the series.
RACE RESULTS
Pos - Driver - Nat - Team - Chassis - Laps - Gap - Status 1. Patrick Carpentier CDN Forsythe Racing Lola 79 2. Bruno Junqueira BR Newman/Haas Racing Lola 79 5.395 3. Oriol Servia E Dale Coyne Racing Lola 79 20.459 4. Michel Jourdain Jr. MEX RuSPORT Lola 79 29.112 5. Ryan Hunter-Reay USA Herdez Competition Lola 79 29.715 6. Alex Tagliani CDN Rocketsports Racing Lola 79 30.431 7. Mario Haberfeld BR Walker Racing Reynard 79 32.311 8. Sebastien Bourdais F Newman/Haas Racing Lola 79 34.467 9. Guy Smith GB Rocketsports Racing Lola 79 45.934 10. Paul Tracy CDN Forsythe Racing Lola 79 49.222 11. Mario Dominguez MEX Herdez Competition Lola 78 1 lap 12. Rodolfo Lavin MEX Forsythe Racing Lola 77 2 laps 13. Gaston Mazzacane AR Dale Coyne Racing Lola 75 4 laps 14. Roberto Gonzalez MEX PKV Racing Lola 52 1:04.881 Electrical 15. A.J. Allmendinger USA RuSPORT Lola 43 10 laps Accident Damage 16. Nelson Philippe F Conquest Racing Lola 11 17.132 Accident17. Jimmy Vasser USA PKV Racing Lola 10 2 laps Gearbox18. Justin Wilson GB Conquest Racing Lola 1 14 laps Accident
