Tracy
and Carpentier to start 3rd and 4th on Milwaukee grid as soggy track turns
lights out on first night qualifying session Rain
forced the cancellation of the first night qualifying session in the history of
the Champ Car World Series on Friday and left Team Player's drivers Paul Tracy
and Patrick Carpentier side by side on Row 2 of the starting grid for Saturday
evening's 250-lap race on the venerable Milwaukee Mile oval. The big winner of the foul
weather conditions was fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani, who wound up winning the
pole - the fourth of his career - when combined results of the three
practice sessions prior to qualifying were used to set the starting grid.
Tagliani had been eighth fastest in Thursday night practice, but his time of
20.882 seconds (177.914 mph / 286.324 km/h) on Friday afternoon gave him the
pole, although he was not awarded the standard one point for a pole victory
because there was no qualifying session. "At least he didn't beat
my track record here," said Carpentier jokingly, referring to the 20.028
seconds he clocked in qualifying around the 1.032-mile track in 1998.
Carpentier's fast lap of 21.208 seconds on Friday afternoon was a shade off
the 21.146 seconds on Thursday night, a time that earned him the fourth spot on
the grid. "Seriously, we would have been happier on the front row, but
we're pleased with what Team Player's has done with the car over the course
of the weekend." Tracy, who is third on the grid,
and Mexico's Michel Jourdain, on the front row beside Tagliani, both produced
their fastest laps in the Thursday night qualifying session - 21.040 by
Jourdain and 21.075 by Tracy. "It's disappointing not
to be able to run in the qualifying session because I'm sure it would have been
a great show for the fans seeing the cars zip around the track under the
lights," remarked Tracy. "It would have been fun to have a chance to
go for the pole and get an extra point, but third on the starting grid is plenty
good enough. I'm looking forward to racing on this track at night. I've always
run a higher line here than most people. I learned that from Rick Mears. If
you're going to pass someone, he's going to protect the inside, so you've got to
do it from the outside." The weather forecast for
Saturday night is favourable, although temperatures are expected to be cool, and
that might make it more difficult to get the tires up to speed. Carpentier, for
one, isn't concerned by this possibility. "Even if it gets colder for
the race, we'll be able to adjust the tire pressure and the aero balance on
the car to make it more stable," he said. "During the last practice
run today, we did some testing and Team Player's made some changes to the car
so that we can run high or low on the track. We have a car that should perform
really well on this track." Racing
fans can follow Team Player's progress at the Milwaukee Mile 250 by logging on
to the team's website at www.teamplayers.ca. They can also watch the race live on The Sports Network at 9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday evening.
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