CART: Kart Practice Helps Carpentier in Early CART Qualifying
20 June 1998
Carpentier Fastest Mercedes-Powered Entry In Early Trials At PortlandPlayer's/Forsythe team's Patrick Carpentier has been working on his driving. After testing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Circuit subsequent to the last round of the CART FedEx Championship Series in Detroit, June 7, the young Canadian driver took to a go-kart track to test a new driving style. It worked well as Carpentier drove to fourth place in today's early qualifying round with a lap time of 59.310 seconds (119. 393 mph). He was fastest of the eight Mercedes-powered Champ Car drivers entered in this weekend's Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200.
Carpentier's run was not problem-free however, as a minor shifter glitch prevented him from reaching his fastest potential lap. "The third to fourth shift gave me a problem, but even so, I'm very happy with today's result," Carpentier said. "According to the computer, I think I would have been good for a lap of 59 seconds flat."
Carpentier credited teammate Greg Moore for the driving tips as Moore managed the sixth fastest time of the day, just 36-thousandths of a second slower than his Player's/Forsythe teammate.
Defending race winner, Mark Blundell and Andre Ribeiro were the next two Mercedes-powered drivers to be included the top ten finishing positions, notching seventh and ninth respectively. Blundell drove his Motorola Reynard Mercedes to a lap of 59.435 seconds (119.142 mph) while Ribeiro, driving his Team Marlboro Penske was less than a tenth of a second slower at 59. 508 seconds (118.996 mph).
Final qualifying is scheduled for 12:45-2:00 p.m. PST tomorrow, and the race is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. PST on Sunday. ESPN-TV's live telecast will begin at 5 p.m. EST.
