Patrick Carpentier

Patrick Carpentier (born on August 13, 1971 in LaSalle, Quebec, Canada) is a racecar driver of Canadian motorsport who excelled in the CART series, where he achieved five victories and 22 podiums. He was third in the 2002 and 2004 seasons, fifth in 2003, and tenth in 2001. He also earned two podium finishes in the 2005 IndyCar Series, finishing tenth in the championship. On the other hand, he took second place in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2007, and got two second places and one fifth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Beginnings in motorsport
After competing in single-seaters in Canada, Carpentier raced five rounds of the American Formula Atlantic in 1992, achieving one victory and three podiums. In 1994 he again achieved one triumphs and three podiums, as well as a sixth place in a Indy Lights race.

The Canadian achieved two wins and four podiums in the 1995 Formula Atlantic, thus finishing third in the championship. In 1996 he won nine of 12 races, obtaining the title in an overwhelming way.

CART (1997-2002)
At age 26, Carpentier made his CART series debut in 1997 with the Bettenhausen team. He achieved a second place at Gateway, an eighth, a ninth and two twelfths, thus obtaining 27 points that placed him 17th in the championship. He outscored Gualter Salles and Dario Franchitti in points, for which he received the Rookie of the Year award.

In 1998, the Forsythe team hired Carpentier as a teammate of Greg Moore. His best results were a seventh place, an eighth and three ninths, while he dropped out in 10 of 19 races. As a consequence, it was placed in the 19th final position.

The driver was second in the 1999 Vancouver Grand Prix with two sixth places, one seventh and ten scoring results, he finished 13th in the championship.

Carpentier obtained two podiums and seven top-fives in 17 races contested in 2000. After leaving six times and absent on three dates, he had to confirm himself with the final 11th place.

After a poor start to the year, the Canadian triumphed for the first time in the Michigan race, He then finished second at Chicago and third at Mid-Ohio and Lausitzring, but didn't score in half the races. In this way, it was ranked tenth in the general table.

In 2002, Carpentier made a leap in quality and triumphed in Cleveland and Mid-Ohio, also obtaining five podiums and nine top 5. Thus, he placed third in the championship at few points behind the runner-up Bruno Junqueira, although far from Cristiano da Matta and his seven victories.

Champ Car and IndyCar (2003-2005)
IndyCar attracted Ganassi and Andretti Green teams and engine manufacturers Honda and Toyota for the 2003 season, following in the footsteps of Penske who had left CART in 2002. Forsythe remained in the renowned Champ Car to take on Newman/Haas and Rahal, including Carpentier and Paul Tracy as drivers. The Québécois triumphed at Laguna Seca, finished second at Mid-Ohio, third at Milwaukee and Montreal, and accumulated eight top-fives in 18 races. Thus, he was fifth in the championship.

Carpentier followed Forsythe in the 2004 Champ Car, where he triumphed again at Laguna Seca. He finished second at Milwaukee and Montreal, third at Toronto Grand Prix, and fourth in three races. Therefore, he was third in the championship, behind Sébastien Bourdais and Junqueira, the Newman / Haas duo.

In 2005, the Canadian left Champ Car and went on to compete in IndyCar with the Cheever team. He posted two third places at Richmond and Nashville, a fourth at Sears Point and 11 top-10s in 17 races. Thus, the pilot finished the season in tenth position.

Final years
Cheever was left without its main sponsor in 2006, leaving Carpentier without her seat. In January, he raced the 24 Hours of Daytona with Cheever, where he finished 11th although dropping out before the test was complete. He then played the last three rounds of the A1 Grand Prix 2005/06 with the Canadian team, obtaining fifth place as the best result. He later raced on the Sears Point date of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series with the Samax team, finishing seventh. Also, he was sixth on a Cascar date with a Ford.

The Canadian continued in the Grand-Am in the 2007 season as a Samax driver. He finished second at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and fourth at Homestead and Virginia. However, his three absences and four withdrawals placed him 35th in the prototype class drivers' championship.

Also in 2007, Carpentier began competing in stock cars, playing three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series dates and three NASCAR Nationwide Series dates. In the Nationwide he finished second on the Montreal date at the wheel of a Dodge.

In 2008, the driver raced 24 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series dates in a Gillett Evernham Dodge. He earned a pole position at New Hampshire, but his best finish was 14th in the 2008 Coke Zero 400. He had better luck in the Nationwide, where he also played eight races with a Gillett Dodge: he finished second at Montreal and fifth at Mexico and eighth at Las Vegas and Talladega.

The Canadian played six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, six in 2010 and one in 2011, earning an 11th best finish in the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the wheel of a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. He also raced in the Montreal Nationwide date between 2009 and 2012 with Toyota, without achieving remarkable results.

Carpentier returned to IndyCar in 2011 to attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 with the Dragon team, which he failed.

Retirement
On August 20, 2011, Carpentier announced his retirement shortly before the Nationwide race in Montreal. While running fourth, contact with Steven Wallace took him out of the race and he left to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Despite his retirement, Carpentier stated in January 2012 that he would be willing to compete in the Montreal Nationwide Series race in 2012, to raise money for children's charities. After starting 13th, Carpentier finished 29th.

In 2013, after spending time trying to avoid racing, Carpentier joined the French-language sports channel RDS, as a colour commentator for their NASCAR broadcasts. After retiring from full-time racing in 2008, Patrick said that he “''tried other things but I need to be around racing. Everything has been very different since I stopped racing and I have been trying to come to grips with it''.” Prior to this, Carpentier was in the home renovation business, buying and selling real estate in Nevada, where he lived whilst an active racer. As the economic downturn hit the Las Vegas region hard and real estate prices started to sag, this made life difficult for him. So when RDS offer came along, he took up their offer.

When in August 2014, the inaugural World Rallycross Championship hit the classic Canadian street venue, Circuit Trois-Rivières, the seventh round of the season. Carpentier was the chance to make his rallycross debut with the Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport outfit. Despite his lack of experience of Rallycross cars, he raced through the heats, qualifying for the Final. At the start of the final, Carpentier slotted his Volkswagen Polo in fourth place behind Timur Timerzyanov. He was the first driver to take his joker lap, but spun at the end of the second lap, putting him out of contention for a podium finish. By lap four, much to the dismay of the crowd, Carpentier crashed out, leaving him classified sixth overall in the first ever World RX of Canada event. The event was won by Petter Solberg, from Anton Marklund. Carpentier raced a JRM Racing Mini Countryman in the 2015 World RX of Canada, this time finishing 14th overall and failing to reach the semi-finals.

American open–wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

CART/Champ Car

 * ^ New points system introduced in 2004.

IndyCar

 * 1 The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.

A1 Grand Prix
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )