First podium of 2003 for Patrick
source: Team Players
The torrid battle on the track more than made up for the
chilly weather conditions at the first-ever night race in the Champ Car World
series Saturday, as Team Player's driver Patrick Carpentier earned his first
podium of the season with a third-place finish.
Mexico's Michel Jourdain Jr., who won for the first time in
126 career starts, was seven-tenths of a second ahead of Carpentier and just
over four-tenths ahead of Spain's Oriol Servia, his closest pursuer in the
250-lap event, where the ambient temperature was 7 degrees Celsius.
With a full-course yellow setting up a frenzied fight to the finish in the last
10 laps, British driver Darren Manning and Canadian Alex Tagliani were also
podium threats, finishing 1.17 and 2.19 seconds respectively out of the lead.
Team Player's driver Paul Tracy, who spent much of the race in second place, was
also poised for a strong finish. Tracy was running third when he made his final
pit stop on lap 213, but a problem occurred with the wheel-tightening process
and the left rear wheel came loose shortly after Tracy returned to the track. He
was relegated to 13th place, a lap down, and managed to gain one position by the
end of the race to record a point.
Carpentier has finished in the top 8 in all six races this season but is happy
to finally make his way to the podium.