Monterey, CA (My Sportsbook) - Patrick Carpentier led all 87 laps to capture the Grand Prix of Monterey Champ Car race, defeating Bruno Junqueira by 0.844 seconds.

The victory was Carpentier's first of the season and fourth of his CART career.

"This was fantastic," said Carpentier. "There were a few close calls, but we got this one. The car was fantastic, and we're going to enjoy this one."

The No.32 Team Players driver held off both his teammate Paul Tracy and then Junqueira en route to the victory. The last time a driver led from wire-to- wire was at Denver in 2002 when Junqueira accomplished the feat.

The first half of the race was a battle between teammates Carpentier and Tracy. That lasted until the second round of pit stops when Tracy caught one of Adrian Fernandez's tires while leaving the pits.

The incident put him well back of Carpentier and in an effort to close the gap he went too deep into turn 2 and flat-spotted his tires.

Junqueira then took up the challenge, but could never get closer that half a second.

Tracy, points leader Michel Jourdain Jr., and rookie Mario Haberfeld completed the top-five.

Jourdain Jr. fought back from 13th on the grid, after having Saturday's pole- winning run disqualified for being underweight, to finish fourth.

"It was a great race, but so frustrating," said Jourdain Jr. "We had the fastest car, and if you take here and Long Beach (where a late race clutch problem cost him the victory), then we should have so many more points."

Jourdain Jr. remains the leader in the championship with 89 points. Junqueira's runner-up finish helped him close to within six points of the leader (89-83). Tracy (81) dropped to third place, followed by Carpentier (70) and rookie Sebastien Bourdais (53), who finished 17th.

The next race in the CART championship, the G.I. Joe's 200 at the Portland International Raceway, is scheduled for Sunday, June 22nd.