Carpentier tests at Kentucky Speedway

Patrick Carpentier participated yesterday in a test with Gillett-Evernham Motorsport (GEM) at Kentucky Speedway. Carpentier drove the #10 old-style Nextel Cup car usually run by Scott Riggs for about 140 laps around the track, along with Nextel regular Elliott Sadler and 2 Red Bull cars. Carpentier seemed quite happy as he got out of the car : "Our goal was not to achieve a new track record, but to get used to the car, but still, I registered good times. The team was satisfied with the day and I brought the car back in one piece"

During the day, Carpentier was served a variety of different car settings to see how he reacted to each of them and, in he recorded his best lap time at a tenth of a second faster than Sadler

Carpentier will be in Carolina this week-end to work out the details of a possible contract with GEM

Carpentier close to a deal with GEM

The Canadian Press reported today Patrick Carpentier would be close to a deal with Gillett Evernham Motorsport(GEM) for a NASCAR ride. Robert Desrosiers, Carpentier's representative, told that, they don't have a contract or a racing schedule yet but are sure about one thing : Patrick will be testing with GEM pretty soon, probably as soon as Kentucky next week. He then added : "I believe that after the tests, I think all of the cards are going to fall in place and we'll have more of a definite schedule on what Patrick's going to do this season [...] There are still quite a few races left in Busch and Nextel Cup and it's going to be up to Mr. Evernham and Mr. Gillett to see where they want to put Patrick."

Carpentier in a 4th GEM car?

The Journal de Montréal reported yesterday that there are talks going on between Patrick Carpentier and Gillett Evernham Motorsport(GEM) for a spot in their 4th car to be added before the season ends. Gillett was quoted saying : "Carpentier is an extraordinary young man [...] He'll be testing for us in Kentucky and since we're adding a 4th Nextel car this season, he might be behind the wheel for one or more races before the season end."

GEM will be testing at Talladega next week but Carpentier will not be allowed to run the car since he's not been approved by NASCAR to run the super speedways yet. On the other hand, a car built specifically for Patrick is being prepared in GEM's headquarters.

Villeneuve getting comfortable with the COT

Jacques Villeneuve took the wheel of a Nextel Car of Tomorrow (COT) for the first time yesterday at Kentucky Speedway and got at speed much quicker than the people at Bill David Racing expected. Slugger Labbe, Villeneuve's crew chief said they had planned the whole morning for Villeneuve to get comfortable with the car but he was in the expected speed range at his 3rd lap which enabled them to do much more work than expected. In the end, Jacques ran 162 laps of the 1.5 mile oval. With these results, their testing schedule is now kicking to a new speed as Jacques should be testing with the Nextel guys at Talladega next week if he receives his clearance from NASCAR for the 2.66 miles super speedway.

The rumours heard yesterday also confirmed Villeneuve would use the last 7 races of the Craftsman Truck Series in preparation for his 2008 Sprint Cup assault.