Team Player's drivers Patrick Carpentier and Paul Tracy will start
side-by-side on the second row for the Grand Prix of Monterey, after qualifying
third and fourth respectively on the 2.238-mile Laguna Seca road course, the
host of the seventh stop on the Champ Car World Series
Mexican driver Michel Jourdain Jr, who currently leads the series, took the
pole with a quick lap time of one minute, 9.530 seconds (115.875 miles/hour or
186.483 kilometres/hour) Bruno Junquiera fills out the front row after
Friday's provisional pole assured him of a front row start.
Team Player's was barely off the winning pace. A scant 0.045 seconds
separated Patrick Carpentier's fast lap time of one minute, 9.575 seconds
(115.800 miles/hour or 186.362 kilometres per hour) from Jourdain's time. Paul
Tracy's hot lap clocked in at one minute, 9.671 seconds (115.641 miles/hour or
186.105 kilometres/hour), 0.141 seconds behind Jourdain.
"It's a good spot to start the race," said Carpentier. "All I
needed was four hundredths to get the pole but I went just a little bit off in
corner 10 and it cost me. We saw Michel (Jourdain) do his first quick lap early
in the session (on lap 5) and Team Player's decided it was time to go, but so
did everyone else who was watching him."
"We are not even two tenths off and in fourth place," said Tracy, who
is looking for his third victory at Laguna Seca. "It was a difficult session
and the car was inconsistent. I would go into the fourth corner and the car
would understeer. The next time through the same spot it would then oversteer. I
did my best out there today. Team Player's can improve the car for the race.
Tire wear is crucial. The key will be to make a good start. I'll have to try
overtake at the start, but I'll also have to be smart because it's a long
race and I need to score points."
"We had a good car today but it did understeer a bit, so we'll have to
improve it," Carpentier noted, looking ahead to the race. "We will work on
making it better for the race. It's going to be a long race and we must stay
focussed and aggressive the whole time."
Racing fans can follow Team Player's progress at the Grand Prix of Monterey
throughout the weekend by logging on to the team's website at
www.teamplayers.ca. They can also watch the race on tape delay on the The Sports
Network at 8:00 p.m. ET