Patrick Carpentier expected fun filled return to IndyCar in Indianapolis 500 – IndyCar news
Patrick Carpentier anticipated a fun filled return to the open wheeled car racing at the Indianapolis 500.
The 39-year-old Canadian veteran racer was a front squad runner in Champ Car and IndyCar from 1997 to 2005. From the last season in single-seat car racing, he has focused on stock car racing.
Carpentier explained how the opportunity came out of nowhere with the help of Paul Tracy. He is also driving with Dragon Racing for a limited number of races in the running season.
Carpentier said, “I went to Long Beach and met with these guys a little bit and saw everyone there. I guess with me being a good friend of Paul Tracy, Paul said, 'You've got to give Pat a shot and try him out.' Paul called me, these guys called me, and I
was on my way here.”
Carpentier was happy to hear the call and he wanted to try it again after a long while.
The Canadian also apologised to the other crewmembers of Ho-Pin Tung at the Dragon Racing which faced a heavy crash during the practice session and their car was ruled out of the event. The second car was run in collaboration with Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
The Canadian was called up by Dragon Racing after the team made their effort to hit the pace with Scott Speed during the Indy practice session, but he had an unpleasant crash in the warm-up session before the Bump Day qualifying. It ended their participation
in the following event.
Speed said, “What can you do? I was just starting to enjoy it. I started to go sideways a little bit, and I hit the white line. You don't want to do this with these cars, and it just swapped around on me.”
He also explained that the effect was dizzy as he hit hard to the wall. He said he was having a bit of fun but the comeback proved to be a tough one for him.
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