God Speed, Mr. Newman

The racing community lost a dear friend and staunch supporter over the weekend with the passing of Newman/Haas/Lanigan team owner Paul Newman.

Newman played an integral role in Oriol’s racing career, providing our driver with what may have been the biggest break in his racing career when Oriol joined the team in 2005, filling in for an injured Bruno Junqueira. That same year, Servia scored his first Champ Car victory and finished second in the championship standings.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been touched by Mr. Newman. No doubt will his legacy proceed him, as this legend will continue to inspire people through his many charitable foundations and enduring spirit.

Posted by Shelly Paul, Servia Squad Feature Writer

Servia Takes Ninth in Championship at Chicago

This weekend’s IndyCar Series finale at Chicagoland may have just demonstrated that KVRT Co-owner Jimmy Vasser’s superstitions regarding a car’s paint scheme are warranted, as Oriol Servia and the KV Racing Technology crew struggled from the drop of the green flag. Servia, carrying new sponsorship and a new livery for sponsor CDW, faced one challenge after another during the 200-lap race.

Vasser has been known to take some extreme measures in the past when a car does not perform up to expectations, one time banning a particular shade of red on the chassis after poor race results.

Many, though, will argue it is a team’s performance both on-track and in the pits that will win or lose a race. And the #5 crew faced their share of hardships today. Servia qualified the car in 12th position and experienced trouble early on, dropping back through the field.

By mid race, the #5 Dallara lost a mirror from the left sidepod, forcing Oriol to pit and bringing out a yellow flag for on-track debris. The team’s first attempt at a quick fix using duct tape (what were they thinking?) quickly failed and they sent their driver back out in an effort to keep him from going a lap down. The repairs were eventually made and Servia emerged near the end of the field. The veteran held on until the end of the race, picking up a few additional positions and bringing the car home in 17th place.

However, Servia and the KVRT can chalk up this season as an extremely successful one, taking ninth in the championship with 358 points in this, their first IndyCar season.

The IndyCar schedule shows one more race hosted at Surfer’s Paradise, Australia, though I find it hard to believe that teams will choose to participate in this non-points paying race which would cost them more to attend than they would see in return, rather than getting a head start on their 2009 programs. We’ll see come October 26th if there will be the sound of thunder from down under, or if we’ll have to wait out the long winter until the Streets of St. Petersburg on April 5th before the Hondas race again.

Posted by Shelly Paul, Servia Squad Feature Writer

KVRT Featured

Check out the recent spotlight of Oriol, Will and the entire KVRT family in the September IndyCarSeries Magazine. See pages 42-45 for the entire article.

Posted by Shelly Paul, Servia Squad Feature Writer

Servia Standing Seventh

The holiday weekend proved to be a fruitful one for Oriol Servia and the KVRT crew of the #5 Honda/Dallara/Firestone as the team fell just shy of a podium finish at the track at Belle Isle.

Servia demonstrated his strength early on in the weekend, earning a position again in the Firestone Fast Six and qualifying third on the starting grid. Fuel conservation strategy on the part of the team early in the race saw Servia drop back 12 seconds from the leaders by Lap 16. However, a yellow brought out by an incident between Weldon and Camera helped bunch up the field and Oriol was able to capture the second position when the team stayed out on the first round of pit stops.

Upon pitting on Lap 31 under green track conditions, the KV squad supplied their driver with fuel and tires and got him back on track in third position as the field cycled through. Servia held on to his position and repeated the tactics again on the second stop, moving up to second. When race leader Castroneves pitted, the pilot of the #5 machine found himself leading the race with clear track ahead. After a quick duck into the pits for fuel himself, Oriol re-entered the race in fourth position and found himself ahead of championship points leader Dixon who was forced to throttle back on fuel and unable to pass the Spaniard.

Oriol wrapped up a strong race weekend in fourth position and improved his championship points standing by two positions, up to seventh.

(On a side note, Drew hopes to have the URL sorted out for oriolservia.com very soon! In the meantime, visit the site by clicking here.)

Posted by Shelly Paul, Servia Squad Feature Writer