Canada's Patrick Carpentier claimed victory in the Cart Mid-Ohio Grand Prix on Sunday to close the gap on overall leader Cristiano da Matta to 27 points.

Carpentier took the maximum 23 points on his 100th Cart start by winning from the pole and leading the most laps.

Brazilian Da Matta had been the runaway championship leader, but two wins in three races for Carpentier have given him a chance with eight races remaining.

Da Matta came into the race with five wins this year, but he had never finished better than ninth in his four starts in Mid-Ohio.

And his jinx continued as he had to settle for 13th after spinning out into the gravel on lap 69 and failing to finish for the third race in a row.

Fellow Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi was second, followed by Michael Andretti, Bruno Junqueira and Scott Dixon.

Da Matta now has 122 points with Carpentier on 95, Junqueira on 86 and Scotland's Dario Franchitti on 84.

Cart Mid-Ohio Grand Prix results

1 Patrick Carpentier 92 laps, 106.680mph
2 Christian Fittipaldi 92
3 Michael Andretti 92
4 Bruno Junqueira 92
5 Scott Dixon 92
6 Kenny Brack 92
7 Alex Tagliani 92
8 Jimmy Vasser 92
9 Shinji Nakano 92
10 Oriol Servia 92

Overall standings

Cristiano da Matta 122pts
Patrick Carpentier 95
Bruno Junqueira 86
Dario Franchitti 84
Michel Jourdain 76
Michael Andretti 74
Christian Fittipaldi 74
Paul Tracy 68
Kenny Brack 68
Alex Tagliani 64