Las Vegas, NV (My Sportsbook) - Canadian Patrick Carpentier captured the pole for Saturday night's Bridgestone 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No.7 Forsythe Championship Racing driver circled the 1.5-mile oval in 26.190 seconds (206.186 m.p.h.). The last major open-wheel race at LVMS saw Mark Dismore's Indy car win the pole in April 2000 with a speed of 208.502 m.p.h. By contrast, when NASCAR visited the desert in March, the pole winner was Kasey Kahne with a speed of 174.904 m.p.h. The pole victory was Carpentier's first of the season and fifth of his Champ Car career. The No.7 driver won the last Champ Car event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and is fourth in the championship. Starting on the front row with Carpentier will be Jimmy Vasser, who posted a time of 26.278 seconds. Series points leader Sebastien Bourdais (26.300) and teammate Bruno Junqueira (26.310) will start in row two. Through 11 events, it is an all-Newman/Haas year in the Champ Car Series. Despite struggling in his last two races, the Frenchman Bourdais has dominated the series since race number two in Monterrey. Bourdais leads teammate Junqueira by 24 points (275-251) and has started on the pole in seven events and won five times. The race is scheduled to begin on Saturday night at 10 p.m. local time or 1 a.m. (et) on the east coast. |
