While this weekend’s Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring, Montegi was nothing to write home about, the #06 crew, along with the entire Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Team, had a lot to celebrate.
Both drivers for the Illinois-based squad started within the Top-10 on the grid, and even more impressive, finished within the Top-5. If you by chance missed the race due to the early broadcast, you didn’t miss much. That is, until the last 25 laps or so.
It wasn’t until the end of the race that cameras focused on something other than Briscoe or Dixon, and we saw teammates Oriol Servia and Graham Rahal partake in a lengthy game of leapfrog as they battled it out on course for a podium position. Servia started the action around lap 175 as he flew by the #02 car for third position. Shortly after, he was warned by race officials to “drive in a straight line.” Umm, perhaps they didn’t notice that we’re racing an oval here and forgot to take notes on what happened when Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay drove “in a straight line.”
A ballsy but quick Mario Moraes driving for KV Racing Technology soon overtook Servia, but Oriol took the position right back. Then at 21 laps to go, Rahal regained the third position and held it through to the checkered flag, leaving Servia one position shy of the podium.
While it was Oriol’s third straight Top-10 finish, it may be time to say “sayonara” to Servia as his four-race contract with NHL Racing has come to an end. Although this was the second time he successfully served as a substitute driver for the team, he has yet to secure any type of contract for next season.
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Posted by Shelly Paul, Servia Squad Feature Writer