source:
crash.net
Patrick Carpentier has taken his first step towards recording back-to-back
wins at Laguna Seca after setting the quickest time in first qualifying for the
Grand Prix of Monterey - securing a front row start in the process.
Carpentier set a fastest lap of 1min 09.918secs late on in the session but then
had to survive a harrowing trip through the dirt coming out of turn three to
hold on to the first-day pole.
The Canadian driver went slightly off-course, putting his left-side tyres into
the dirt, and found himself dangerously close to the section of concrete wall
underneath the Bridgestone bridge. However, he corrected his Forsythe Racing
Lola in time to avoid the wall and was able to keep the car out of danger,
bringing it back on track just before the entrance on turn four, avoiding a red
flag that would have cost him his pole winning time.
"Today was very good," Carpentier said afterwards. "We had a mechanical issue in
the morning. The car was fast during the afternoon, however, we decided to make
a change and it was a bad one. So we re-set the car to the morning's set-up and
the car was back to normal and fast. On the second stint during qualifying, we
put on the option tyre which helped a lot. I was running a little slow on my
fast lap, but I was able to make the time up later on during that lap to post
the time I did. I think the track will be faster tomorrow so we will see if we
can get faster and hold on to the pole for the race."
The drivers had earlier taken advantage of the weather conditions, with six cars
hitting the track at the drop of the green flag to start the 35min session. The
early action resulted in a session-long game of leapfrog at the top of the
charts as six drivers held the first-day pole at some point during the session.