Carpentier

MONTEREY, Calif. -- A nudge from a teammate helped polesitter Patrick Carpentier to win the Grand Prix of Monterey.

Carpentier led from the beginning of the CART race, and was helped when Paul Tracy nudged his car during a false start, allowing him to beat Bruno Junqueira by 0.844 seconds Sunday.

"Bruno was behind me and I knew he was trying to play a game a little bit where he would get a good start," Carpentier said. "I just kind of slowed down when he accelerated. I want to make it obvious and Paul helped me to make it really obvious. He hit me from the back."

Carpentier averaged 107.986 mph in the seventh Champ Car race in the 19-event season.

After nudging his teammate at the start, Tracy followed him the rest of the afternoon to finish third, 28.575 seconds back at Laguna Seca.

Michel Jourdain, who had won the pole Saturday but lost it when his car was ruled to be underweight, charged from the 13th spot on the grid to finish fourth. He was followed by rookie Mario Haberfeld.

Tracy raced a few car lengths behind his teammate at the outset, but could not get past him.

"I tried everything I could without using the chrome horn," he said.

Tracy later tried to make a move around his teammate as the two left a pit stop 1-2 on the 48th lap, but had to lock up his front end to avoid a collision.

"I had to suffer with flat-spotted tires. I had very bad handling and a bad vibration. I couldn't stop, I couldn't turn," he said.

With Junqueira bearing down on him, Tracy slipped off course in the 56th lap, and Junqueira took over second place for good.

Junqueira pulled within a few car lengths of Carpentier, but could get no closer.

"The car ran very, very well, but Patrick drove very well and didn't make any mistakes," Junqueira said.

Carpentier said he knew he had to be flawless as Junqueira bore down on him.

"At the end I knew I couldn't make any mistakes. Bruno had a very fast car," he said.

The victory was the fourth of Carpentier's career and his first since August at Mid-Ohio. It marked Tracy's first podium since his third consecutive victory April 19 at Long Beach. He had received just three points in the last three races. Junqueira had a second this year at Brands Hatch and a third at Long Beach.

"The last three races have been pretty difficult to swallow, giving up 30-40 points," Junqueira said. "Our goal this weekend was just trying to stop the bleeding."

Jourdain held on to the championship points lead with 89, followed by Junqueira with 83 and Tracy at 81. Carpentier, recovering from a slow start, is fourth with 70.

The victorious Canadian said in his French accent that his post-race doughnuts were more like croissants.

"Maybe next time I will do doughnuts," he said. "They were not really croissants."

The 87-lap race was accident-free around the course that snakes for 2.238 miles and 11 turns through a rolling county park on the Monterey Peninsula. The only yellow came for the false start.