Round 15 of the Indy Racing League Indy Car Series at the Chicagoland Oval Speedway source: Max d'Orsonnens -Dan Wheldon wins a record sixth IRL win in 2005 Patrick Carpentier finished ninth in Round 15 of the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series held Sunday on the 2.41-kilometre (1.5-mile) oval Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The Red Bull Cheever Racing driver crossed the finish line only 0.06512 seconds behind race winner Dan Wheldon at the conclusion of the 200-lap affair. Wheldon's win was his sixth of the season, an IRL record. Wheldon only has to start the next race at Watkins Glen to be crowned the 2005 champion. For Carpentier, it was his tenth top-ten finish this season. The Joliette, Quebec native, who started 16th, completed his tenth consecutive race finish, and still dominates the series in total laps with 2822 - 75 more than series points leader Dan Wheldon of Great Britain. "Toyota has really improved the performance of their engine lately," said Carpentier who was the highest Toyota finisher, other than the Penske drivers. "For the first time this year, I could keep up with the leaders without relying on race cautions to maintain contact with them. We are still lacking a bit of power to go for the win on a regular basis, but we are getting there. Toyota is really working hard to catch up to Honda. We are going to Watkins Glen next week for a day of testing in order to be more competitive for the penultimate race of the 2005 season." ''In the corner just before to the Barron-Briscoe incident, Ryan (Briscoe) came close to taking me out of the race,'' continued Carpentier. ''Fortunately, I was able to avoid him, but it's disturbing when an inexperienced driver tries these manoeuvres.''
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |