Oriol Servià

Oriol Servià
Servià at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2011.
Nationality	Spanish
Born	July 13, 1974 Pals, Girona
2011 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season	2008
Current team	Newman/Haas Racing
Car no.	2
Former teams	Rahal Letterman Racing KV Racing Technology
Starts	38
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	4th in 2011

Oriol Servià
CART/Champ Car World Series
Years active	2000–2007
Teams	PPI Motorsports Sigma Autosport PWR Championship Racing Patrick Racing Dale Coyne Racing Newman/Haas Racing PKV Racing Forsythe Championship Racing
Starts	125
Wins	1
Poles	1
Best finish	2nd in 2005
Previous series
1998–1999	Indy Lights
Championship titles
1999	Indy Lights Champion

Oriol Servià i Imbers (born 13 July 1974 in Pals, Girona, Spain) is a race car driver in the IndyCar Series, originally from Catalonia, Spain. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Racing career

Early career

Like many drivers, Servià started his career in at go-karts at a local kart track where he stayed until he was 19, before racing in several Formula 3 championships. In 1998, he moved to the Dayton Indy Lights series in America. In 1999, Servià won the Indy Lights championship over closest rival Casey Mears. He had no wins that year but five runner-up finishes.

In 2000, Servià joined the PPI Motorsports team in the Champ Car series, as teammate to Cristiano da Matta. Servià moved on to race for the Sigma Autosport (for 2001), Patrick Racing (from the middle of 2002 to the end of 2003, finishing 6th in the championship that year), and Dale Coyne Racing (in 2004, scoring some of the underfunded team's best ever results) teams. Servià also practiced for the 2002 Indianapolis 500 for Walker Racing and Conquest Racing although he failed to get a car into the field.

2005–2006

After starting the 2005 season for Coyne, Servià moved to the Newman/Haas Racing team after two races to replace injured Bruno Junqueira. On August 28, 2005, Servià picked up his first-ever Champ Car victory at the Molson Indy Montreal at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal. The win was controversial, as Timo Glock, gambling on fuel, was forced to pull over and allow Servià to take the lead on the final lap after cutting the final chicane while blocking Oriol a second time. Glock had been warned about an earlier unfair attempt. Oriol ultimately finished as championship runner-up behind team-mate Sébastien Bourdais. In 2006 he joined PKV Racing, alongside British rookie Katherine Legge, with team co-owner Jimmy Vasser scheduled to do a partial season (although Vasser only drove in the season opener at Long Beach). Servia ended the season 11th in the standings with one podium finish, a third at Cleveland.

2007

Without a ride at the beginning of the 2007 season, Servià replaced the injured Paul Tracy at Forsythe Championship Racing. Despite little time in the new Panoz DP01 chassis, Servia earned a runner-up finish in his debut with the team. He then finished 4th in his second replacement start, which earned him a seat for the rest of the season, as he replaced teammate Mario Dominguez at Forsythe. For the season, Servia scored two podiums and four top-five finishes in 11 starts with Forsythe Racing. At San Jose the Spaniard earned a third place finish after leading a race high 42 laps. But on September 12, 2007 it was announced that Forsythe Championship Racing had named Mexican driver David Martinez to drive the #7 INDECK Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone for the final two Champ Car World Series races of the season. Luckily for Servia in October he was named the new pilot of the #22 Pay By Touch PKV Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone entry replacing Tristan Gommendy for these two races, because Tristan had some unresolved business situation. The veteran driver finished in the top ten in all but one start this season, and despite missing the season opener, finished sixth in the Series standings.

2008

Servià at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2008.

Oriol Servià in the KV Racing machine at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

On January 3, 2008 PKV Racing announced that popular Spanish driver Servià, who had finished sixth in the 2007 Champ Car World Series, would return to the series for 2008 with PKV Racing.^[1] However, following Champ Car's unification with the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series, the team fields cars for Servià and Will Power in the unified IndyCar Series, under the KV Racing name following Dan Petitt's departure.

Servià finished 11th at the Indianapolis 500, impressive due to his 25th place start. He stayed in the top 15 for most of the race. A week later, he had a remarkable run at Milwaukee. After falling back to 26th position and losing a lap early in the race due to contact with Enrique Bernoldi, he immediately regained his lap on the restart and steadily moved through the field to finish 6th. Following unsuccessful races in Iowa and Texas, Servià improved his best finish in an IRL-spec race by finishing 4th in the Detroit Indy Grand Prix. The final race of the season at the Chicagoland Speedway brought in CDW as a new sponsor.

The season finished with Servià racking up seven top-10 finishes, five top-5 finishes, and a 4th place best finish.

2009

Servià was sidelined for the first three races of the Indycar Series leading into the Indianapolis 500. He signed a deal with Rahal Letterman Racing to compete in the Indianapolis 500. He qualified on the third day of qualifying at an average speed of 220.984, and finished 26th in the race after dropping out with mechanical problems.^[2]

He has since signed on with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for the Mid-Ohio race after serving as an advisor to Tony Kanaan at Andretti Green Racing.

Motorsports Career Results

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

CART/Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2000	PPI Motorsports	MIA Ret	LBH 6	RIO Ret	MOT Ret	NZR 9	MIL 19	DET 3	POR 8	CLE Ret	TOR 11	MIS 8	CHI Ret	MDO 10	ROA 10	VAN 11	LS Ret	STL 5	HOU 9	SRF 9	FON Ret		15th	60
2001	Sigma Autosport	MTY 14	LBH 14	TXS NH	NZR 9	MOT 14	MIL 14	DET 16	POR 9	CLE 17	TOR 23	MIS 11	CHI 18	MDO 9	ROA 10	VAN 5	LAU 5	ROC 10	HOU 26	LS 17	SRF 25	FON 11	19th	42
2002	PWR Championship Racing	MTY 10	LBH 11	MOT 6	MIL Wth	LS	POR	CHI	TOR	CLE													16th	44
	Patrick Racing										VAN 14	MDO 10	ROA 16	MTL 16	DEN 11	ROC 4	MIA 17	SRF 16	FON 5	MXC 9
2003	Patrick Racing	STP 12	MTY 18	LBH 12	BRH 4	LAU 5	MIL 2	LS 6	POR 5	CLE 6	TOR 5	VAN 16	ROA 18	MDO 18	MTL 2	DEN 3	MIA 19	MXC 13	SRF 19	FON NH			7th	108
2004	Dale Coyne Racing	LBH 15	MTY 14	MIL 7	POR 11	CLE 4	TOR 9	VAN 12	ROA 6	DEN 6	MTL 9	LS 3	LVG 12	SRF 13	MXC 7								10th	199^
2005	Dale Coyne Racing	LBH 11	MTY 9																				2nd	288
	Newman/Haas Racing			MIL 3	POR 16	CLE 3	TOR 2	EDM 2	SJO 3	DEN 4	MTL 1	LVG 2	SRF 5	MXC 4
2006	PKV Racing	LBH 18	HOU 12	MTY 8	MIL 5	POR 10	CLE 3	TOR 12	EDM 4	SJO 8	DEN 15	MTL 16	ROA 4	SRF 13	MXC 6								11th	197
2007	Forsythe Championship Racing	LVG	LBH 2	HOU 4	POR 11	CLE 7	MTT 9	TOR 10	EDM 6	SJO 3	ROA 4	ZOL 6	ASN 8										6th	237
	PKV Racing													SRF 14	MXC 3

• ^ New points system implemented in 2004

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2002	Walker Racing	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY DNQ	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2					NC	–
2008	KV Racing Technology	HMS 12	STP 7	MOT1 DNP	LBH1 5	KAN 11	INDY 11	MIL 6	TXS 26	IOW 16	RIR 5	WGL 23	NSH 16	MDO 5	EDM 5	KTY 12	SNM 15	DET 4	CHI 17	SRF2 5	9th	358
2009	Rahal Letterman Racing	STP	LBH	KAN	INDY 26	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	TOR	EDM	KTY								21st	115
	N/H/L Racing													MDO 11	SNM 6	CHI 7	MOT 4	HMS
2011	Newman/Haas Racing	STP 9	ALA 5	LBH 6	SAO 5	INDY 6	TXS1 21	TXS2 25	MIL 3	IOW 14	TOR 12	EDM 22	MDO 8	NHM 2	SNM 11	BAL 2	MOT 5	KTY 6	LVS C		4th	425

* Season in progress.

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
3	3	40	0	0	3	19	0	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	DNQ		Walker Racing
	Dallara	Infiniti	DNQ		Conquest Racing
2008	Dallara	Honda	25	11	KV Racing Technology
2009	Dallara	Honda	25	26	Rahal Letterman Racing
2011	Dallara	Honda	3	6	Newman/Haas Racing

References

1. ^ Freeman, Glenn. Servia signs to race for PKV, Autosport.com, January 3, 2008
2. ^ http://www.indycar.com/stats/full_race_results.php?event_date=2009-05-24&year=2009

External links

• Official Oriol Servia website
• IndyCar Driver Page

Sporting positions
Preceded by Cristiano da Matta	Indy Lights Champion 1999	Succeeded by Scott Dixon

Persondata
Name	Servia, Oriol
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 13, 1974
Place of birth	Pals, Spain
Date of death
Place of death