Carpentier fends off late battle to win in Monterey

Tom Gardner

Monday, June 16, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.

MONTEREY, Calif. -- Las Vegas resident Patrick Carpentier got a break and played a late game to perfection.

Leading from start to finish, Carpentier held off Bruno Junqueira in the Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday for his fourth Champ Car victory and first since August at Mid-Ohio.

The winner got a break Saturday when CART disallowed Michel Jourdain's pole-winning effort, declaring his car underweight and putting Carpentier in the No. 1 spot.

The bluffing game played out Sunday with some help from teammate Paul Tracy, another Las Vegas resident.

"Bruno was behind me and I knew he was trying to play a game a little bit where he would get a good start," Carpentier said. "I just kind of slowed down when he accelerated. I want to make it obvious and Paul helped me to make it really obvious. He hit me from the back."

The pressure came as Junqueira bore down on Carpentier at the end of the twisting run at Laguna Seca.

"He scared me enough that we got a little bit more," Carpentier said. "But every lap is like a qualifying lap, you are just trying hard, trying hard ..."

Carpentier tried hard enough to average 107.986 mph and edge Junqueira by 0.844 seconds in the seventh Champ Car race in the 19-event season.

After nudging his teammate at the start, Tracy followed him the rest of the afternoon to finish third, 28.575 seconds back.

It was Tracy's first podium finish since his third consecutive victory April 19 at Long Beach. He had received just three points in the past three races.

"The last three races have been pretty difficult to swallow, giving up 30-40 points," Tracy said. "Our goal this weekend was just trying to stop the bleeding."

Jourdain, who was sent back to 13th on he grid, charged to fourth, followed by rookie Mario Haberfeld.

Tracy raced a few car lengths behind his teammate at the outset, but could not get past him.

"I tried everything I could without using the chrome horn," he said.

Tracy later tried to make a move around his teammate as the two left a pit stop 1-2 on the 48th lap, but had to lock up his front brakes to avoid a collision.

"I had to suffer with flat-spotted tires. I had very bad handling and a bad vibration. I couldn't stop, I couldn't turn," he said.

With Junqueira bearing down on him, Tracy slipped off course in the 56th lap, and Junqueira took over second place for good.