Newman/Haas Racing
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, August 6, 2011
SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFFE EARNED HIS BEST START ON A ROAD COURSE WITH SEVENTH FOR THE HONDA INDY 200; TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA TO START 20TH
POLE: Scott Dixon 1:08.0776 / 119.405 mph (Round 3)
7th: James Hinchcliffe 1:08.7701 / 118.203 mph (Round 2)
20th: Oriol Servia 1:09.4935 / 116.972 mph (Round 1)
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I'm a little confused with our performance because the Telemundo car felt good and I felt good. I thought I was pushing it and not making mistakes but the lap time was just not coming. I really don't know what to say; the car wasn't bad. It's the strangest thing to have the worst qualifying of the year when the car feels good. The setup is not bad because obviously James is running well. Luckily I have a great strategist calling my race. The car is not bad, we just missed on our qualifying run somehow. Nothing is lost but it's disappointing to start 20th."
FAST FACTS: Will be his SEVENTH major open wheel race here and first since 2009 with NHR. He has competed in four CART/Champ Car races (2000-2003) and two IndyCar Series events (2008 & 2009) here to date. In 2009, he started 14th and finished 11th in his return to NHR in only his second Indy car race that season and first road course in almost a year. In 2008 he started eighth and finished fifth for KV Racing. In his rookie CART season in 2000, he started 17th and finished 10th; started 26th and finished ninth in 2001; started 12th and finished 10th in 2002 and started eighth and finished 18th in 2003 after contact with NHR driver Junqueira...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 FIFTH in series point standings with 244.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "Again, we were just on the outside looking in (to get into the Firestone Fast Six) but for a rookie it's not a bad place to be. We were one of the few guys that didn't test here last week so we came in having to learn real quick and a big thanks has to go to Oriol and everyone on the Telemundo car because they did come test and obviously we started with that setup and the car was good right away in Friday's practice. And it was good this morning so we knew we were going to be relatively competitive. We just put together a good Lap in Round 1 and were pretty competitive in Round 2 as well. I think it (being one of few that didn't test last week here) is probably more a mental thing than anything. It's just knowing that everybody else was here pounding around. When you come here for the race, the conditions are different; there are eight different kinds of rubber on the track from the different series so its very different conditions from the test day but its just me wanting to get to know the place in the Indy car and luckily we managed to get that done pretty quick in the first session."
FAST FACTS: This will be his fourth race here and FIRST in the headline Indy car race. Started and finished second in the 2009 Indy Lights race. Started second, set the fastest race lap and finished seventh in the 2010 Indy Lights race. Competed in the 2005 Star Mazda event where he qualified 11th and finished seventh...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 18th with a total of 173 points and is 39 behind Rookie of the Year leader Hildebrand (193) after eight of nine events so far this season (missed St. Pete).
NEWMAN/HAAS RACING'S 24 PREVIOUS MID-OHIO EVENTS: In total the team has earned THREE wins (Mi. Andretti 1991, 1990; Ma. Andretti 1984), SIX poles (Mansell 1993; Mi. Andretti 1992, 1991, 1990; Ma. Andretti 1986, 1984), and ELEVEN podium finishes (2nd- Fittipaldi 2002, Tracy 1995, Ma. Andretti 1990, 1988, 1983; 3rd- Fittipaldi 2000, Mi. Andretti 1996, 1989) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
TUNE IN... Qualifying will be televised at 6 p.m. EDT on today while the race will be broadcast live on Sunday, August 7th at 2:00 p.m. EDT – both on Versus. The radio broadcast also will be carried on www.indycar.com. As always, fans can follow the action from every on-track session via the official website of the IZOD IndyCar Series, www.indycar.com.
