Patrick Carpentier talks about his hopes for 2003 and life as Paul Tracy's teammate source: cart.com: Gordon Kirby While his new teammate Paul Tracy already has struck gold twice and sits comfortably atop the point standings, Patrick Carpentier has endured a rather more tepid start to the season. Carpentier was almost as quick as Tracy in both St Petersburg and Monterrey but he slid into the tire barriers in Florida while running second to Tracy and in Mexico he was hit by a virus that kept him off the track most of Saturday. Carpentier missed the final qualifying session, spending the afternoon in bed at his hotel. The result was that he started the race from near the back--15th--but despite not feeling 100 percent he drove a great race. After the final round of pitstops Patrick was battling with Bruno Junqueira for fifth place but with seven laps to go he slid off the road and stalled following an optimistic attempt to outbrake Junqueira. "When I got onto the inside of the track it was really slippery," Carpentier explained. "I had no grip at all and I went straight off into the grass." Champ Car's safety team was able to get the Player's Forsythe Lola going again but by then Carpentier had lost a lap. He came home eighth, salvaging five points from the weekend so that he's currently eighth in points, 33 behind his championship-leading teammate. Despite his problems in the opening races Carpentier remains confident that he can challenge Tracy for the championship. "I'm pretty happy, pretty optimistic," Patrick says. "I think it's going to be a good season for me. We're going to have a good fight for the championship. If we can win the championship, that's what I want, for sure, but a lot of things can happen so you can win it or not win it.
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