Newman/Haas Racing
Honda Indy Toronto – Streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES – Friday, July 8, 2011
SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFFE FOURTH FAST IN PRACTICE FOR HIS HOME RACE -- THE HONDA INDY TORONTO; TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA SEVENTH
FASTEST: Will Power 1:00.5581 104.330 mph
4th: James Hinchcliffe 1:01.0059 103.564 mph
7th: Oriol Servia 1:01.0519 103.486 mph
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "We made some changes on the Telemundo car from the first session to the second session and when we started the second session I thought 'Wow, we got lucky again because the changes were awesome.' The Telemundo car felt great. So we were definitely able to guess where the track was going to go. Then through the session we tried some things we wanted to try and I was really unhappy at the end so actually I am surprised we were seventh fast. I thought we were going to be a lot worse because we put a set of tires on at the end but I couldn't really attack at all so it shows we have more in the car. I'm pretty happy with our progress right now and James is running well so there is potential. It seems like the baseline car is not too bad."
FAST FACTS: Will be his EIGHTH Indy car race here and first since 2007. His highest finish here of second place came in 2005, his previous time to race at Toronto with NHR. Led the race his previous three times here. His highest start of third place came in 2007 with Forsythe. Has led a total of 58 laps in Toronto ('05 – 20 laps; '06 - 4; '07 – 34). Earned four top-10 finishes in seven starts and he started in the top-five his previous three races here. Started 3rd and finished 10th in 2007; started 5th and finished 12th in 2006; started 4th and finished 2nd in 2005; started 10th and finished 9th in 2004; started eighth and finished fifth in 2003; did not compete here in 2002; started 11th and finished 23rd in 2001; started 11th and finished 11th in 2000...Servia, a native of Catalonia, Spain, has made 23 starts for NHR which include his first Indy car win (Montreal 2005) and pole (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2005) as well as a total of eight top-three finishes. In 2005, Servia replaced NHR driver Bruno Junqueira, who suffered a season-ending injury at the Indy 500 on May 29, and then went on to finish second to teammate Sebastien Bourdais in the point standings after 11/13 events with the team. Servia returned to NHR in 2009 for four races with a season-best finish of fourth at Twin Ring Motegi... Is FOURTH in series point standings with 198.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I could definitely tell the difference between the Lights car and the Indy car on this track. This track gets tougher and tougher every year and in every car (series) you move up in. We took the first session to just get used to everything. Newman/Haas is doing a great job; I think both cars are pretty close. Obviously that last session went better than expected for the Sprott team. If I could have been knocking on the door of the top 10, we would have been pretty happy so to end up where we did is a great start."
FAST FACTS: This will be his FIFTH race here and FIRST in an Indy car in his home race. First attended the event at 18 months old and returned annually. Competed in the Firestone Indy Lights races here in 2009 and 2010 and qualified second both times. He finished 3rd in 2009 and 10th in 2010 after contact. He competed in the Atlantic Series here in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, he qualified ninth and finished sixth. In 2007, he qualified fifth and finished 11th...Earned a season-high start of seventh in Iowa and a season-high finish of fourth in Long Beach to date. His best finish on an oval is sixth at Milwaukee...Toronto native Hinchcliffe, 24, finished second in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season standings after three wins and four poles. In total he earned eight podium finishes in 13 races...Is ranked 15th with a total of 142 points and is 27 behind Rookie of the Year leader Hildebrand (169) after seven of eight events so far this season (missed St. Pete).
NEWMAN/HAAS RACING IN TORONTO: NHR is the ONLY team to have competed in all 25 events here and has won twice as many events as the next multi-time winners. Ganassi Racing has won three. The team has won SEVEN races at this track (Bourdais 2004; da Matta 2002; Michael Andretti 2000, 1995, 1992, 1991, 1989) and FIVE poles (Bourdais 2004, 2005, 2007; da Matta 2002; Mi. Andretti 1991). They have earned a total of 16 podium finishes (2nd – Servia 2005, Mi. Andretti 1998, Ma. Andretti 1991, Mi. Andretti 1990; 3rd – Bourdais 2006, Junqueira 2003, Fittipaldi 2002 & 1999, Ma. Andretti 1986).
NEXT UP: Practice and qualifying will take place tomorrow. Live timing & scoring of every session can be seen free of charge on www.indycar.com. The Honda Indy Toronto will be televised live on Versus at 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday.
