Newman/Haas Racing
Iowa Corn Indy 250 – Iowa Speedway
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, June 25, 2011
SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFFE FINISHED NINTH IN THE IOWA CORN INDY 250; TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA RAN UP FRONT BUT PIT PROBLEMS LIMITED HIM TO 14TH PLACE
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I am super-proud of the work done by the team in one day. We knew this track was going to be a challenge and it definitely proved a challenge yesterday. We worked hard, we had long meetings last night and again this morning and Bruno (Couprie) came up with a great car. The Telemundo car really was the class of the field. Pit lane was just not our favorite neighborhood today. With this team, in my life, I have had so many positions gained in the pits but it seems the last couple of races we are lagging behind and that is not typical of Newman/Haas. We are losing positions and today we had lost a couple already before but that wasn't a big deal. But then we had some sort of an issue with the fuel not going in the car. Unfortunately it was the last pit stop where it was the one that kills you; you basically have no time to recover. And then there weren't many yellows to bring any miracles. It's just a shame we couldn't capitalize on the work done. It just proves it's not easy to win one of these things against this competition and we just need to do everything a little bit better. I would catch the top-three every time. I don't want to say we had a car that would have won the race but for sure I had a car that was battling with Marco and Dixon at different stages and we were in front of them. It's not foolish to think we had a car that could challenge for the win. It's a shame to finish 14th and lose a good amount of points that will hurt us in the championship. We have been strong in street and road courses and ovals of all kinds so I know we are going to get back. We just need to have perfect weekends again."
FAST FACTS: Was his SECOND race here. Had the second fastest lap of the race. He started 10th and finished 16th here in his first season of Indy car competition for KV Racing...Servia, a native of Catalonia, Spain, has made 19 starts for NHR which include his first Indy car win (Montreal 2005) and pole (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2005) as well as a total of seven 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: "We the exception of Texas the Sprott team has been in the top-10 in every race we've been running at the end. That's something to be proud of. It was another day in the Indy car education here at Iowa. We got caught up in the first pit stop when Will and Charlie got together right in front of us and we fell right down to the back. From there we were just slowly trying to pick them off, we made a couple of moves on track. And again we made some time up in the pits. It was another team effort. We were running as high as seventh there on the last stint but lost some places to guys like Helio and Ryan. It's all experience and laps in the book. I'm just happy to bring it home after another good day especially not knowing what to expect after last night's practice. Credit goes to the guys for getting the car to where we could race in the top-10. We had a few issues with fueling. We got the fuel in on the first stop but not on the second and had to come back in. We had to do a hose switch and that's why we came in under yellow one time. We had to battle a couple of things so it's good to get a top-10 and carry more momentum into Toronto."
FAST FACTS: The event will be his FOURTH Indy car race on an oval (Indy , Texas, Milw). He competed here in the Indy Lights Series in 2009 where he started fifth and finished third in his rookie season in the series. In 2010 he started ninth and finished fifth. On his first qualifying lap, he was quick enough for pole but on the second lap the fuel pump broke coming out of the last corner and he slowed across the line and qualified 9th... 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 six of seven events so far this season.
NEXT UP: After three races in a row, the series will take next weekend off before heading North of the Border for the 25th Indy car race in Toronto – the Honda Indy. Newman/Haas Racing is the only team to have competed in all 25. The team has won SEVEN races at this track (Sebastien Bourdais 2004; Cristiano 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 – Oriol Servia 2005, Mi. Andretti 1998, Ma. Andretti 1991, Mi. Andretti 1990; 3rd – Bourdais 2006, Bruno Junqueira 2003, Christian Fittipaldi 2002 & 1999, Ma. Andretti 1986). It will be the home race for James Hinchcliffe who first attended the race at 18 months old and each year thereafter.
