Oriol Servia Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The opening day of practice for the 2017 Indianapolis 500 officially began after a two hour rookie orientation/veteran refresher period and Marco Andretti led the speed chart with a lap of 226.338 mph. Scott Dixon was second with a lap of 225.296 mph. Both are driving Honda-powered cars. The first Chevrolet was Ed Carpenter at 224.969 mph. However, before the session for all drivers, some rookie orientations had to be completed, and one was. In order to be declared ready for competitionRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Oriol Servia will return Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 with hopes of running a full season. The Pals, Spain native has driven for RLL in the Indy 500 three times (2009, ’14, ’15) with a best finish of 11th in 2014. He also drove three additional races for the team in 2014, with a best finish of seventh at Long Beach and leading seven laps late at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. “I couldn’t be more excited to be backRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Graham Rahal thinks that Oriol Servia is an ideal choice for a second car at Rahal Letterman Langian Racing. RLL Racing ran two cars for three races last year with rookie Spencer Pigot at the wheel. The team has expressed interest in running two cars for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season but would favor a veteran driver rather than a rookie. Servia, 42, has driven for RLL on three occasions, most recently in a one-off drive at 2015 Indianapolis 500 and ran a handful of racesRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Redemption. JR Hildebrand has had that word on his mind for three years now since getting unceremoniously dropped by Panther Racing after the 2013 Indianapolis 500 and now the Sausalito, CA native has his second chance as Ed Carpenter Racing announced today that Hildebrand will pilot the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet full time next year in the Verizon IndyCar Series. “Honestly, I just couldn’t be more ready to get started! I’ve been close to, but still outside of,Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Oriol Servia has reportedly raised half the funding for a Verizon IndyCar Series drive in 2017. The question is where does he fit in at? While Servia only has one win to his credit (Montreal, 2005), the 42-year-old Spaniard has built up a reputation of being a solid, team playing driver that you end up getting more than you paid for. He managed to finish second in the 2005 Champ Car World Series championship after replacing the injured Bruno Junqueira at Newman Haas racing threeRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer Armed Forces Pole Day is behind us, and the grid is set for the historic 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. While many of the old-timers, like myself, miss the days of packed grandstands and true bump-day drama, the events of this past weekend produced a number of compelling stories. Let’s take a look at five takeaways from the on-track action. 1 ) Who’s sand-bagging now? Get your tin-foil hat ready, here’s a conspiracy theory for you. Amidst all ofRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter INDIANAPOLIS – On a day when many super teams struggled, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports stole the show during qualifications for the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. After finishing third in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, James Hinchcliffe an claimed an emotional pole for the ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’ Almost a year ago, the 29-year-old Canadian was fighting for his life after a suspension part penetrated his right leg and thigh after a part failure sent him into theRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer With the uncertainly surrounding the domed skid issue for Indianapolis, team-owner Sam Schmidt stated publicly that getting a veteran driver in his car may be the best course of action. Although names like Brian Vickers and Gabby Chaves were rumored, Schmidt ultimately went with experience, confirming 41 year-old Oriol Servia for his third car at the historic 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Servia has 198 starts between CART, ChampCar and the IndyCar Series, including seven previous Indianapolis starts. The effort with Schmidt-Peterson will beRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the final half of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to take his second consecutive win in the season opening event for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Montoya mostly ran in arrears to his Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud for the opening 46 laps of the race as the Frenchman pulled out to a sizable lead over the course of the opening stint. Following the first round of green flag pitstops, Pagenaud continued to keep his teammate at bay for theRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer Team Penske driver, Will Power, took the pole for today’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but immediately seemed out of sorts following the session. Complaining of nausea and a headache, speculation was that he has picked up a stomach bug or flu. Power had crashed in Friday’s opening practice and was evaluated by the IndyCar medical staff. At the time, he appeared to have no lingering effects, and was cleared to continue to practice and qualify. After qualifying, when Power began to display these symptomsRead More