Newman/Haas Racing
Firestone Twin 275s – Texas Motor Speedway
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, June 11, 2011
TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA FINISHED 21 & 15 IN THE FIRESTONE TWIN 275s; SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFE FINISHED 20 & 19
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "The first race was terrible; we were slow and we were way off on the balance. We had huge understeer and I couldn't follow anybody. When you are slow and you have to lift, you are going to the back super-fast which is what happened to us. And then I am very happy for the second race because we definitely adjusted the balance. We changed the springs, we changed the wings and downforce and honestly, the balance of the Telemundo car was perfect. It was on the edge, it was good but we were just still slow. We don't know why in Indy we definitely had a good speed car against the wind in terms of drag and here, we just didn't. We had a great test in Milwaukee so we are looking forward to racing there. (Will) Power was a little bit faster so we definitely need to do some work but we are encouraged going there."
FAST FACTS: Was his second race at TMS and first with NHR. He qualified 3rd for the 2001 CART race here but the race was cancelled due to safety concerns. Started 16th in 2008 and retired in 26th due to contact with KV Racing...Servia, a native of Catalonia, Spain, has made 18 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, 12 top-five and 14 top-10 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 the series point standings with 163.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "At the beginning of the first race the Sprott car felt quite good; we were pretty racy and we were making some moves and getting used to the rhythm of everything. And then about halfway through the first stint we really started losing the front end of the car. Part of it was my inexperience on getting to the tools fast enough and I think part of it was setup. We lost a bit of time, we lost some spots and then we had come in for a pit stop and caught a yellow and unfortunately I made a rookie error and passed the pace car trying to get out ahead of it and then we got a stop and go penalty and ended up much further down in Race 1 than we probably should have been. It was very unfortunate circumstances with the penalty there. For Race 2 we made some adjustments to the car and the first stint again, on the first 10-15 laps it felt really good and then the end of that stint we really lost the front of the car and I was hanging on for dear life and had maxed out all the adjustments in the car. I made sure I stayed on top of it and learned from Race 1 but we just ran out of things to do so we pitted and made a wing change and the car was so much better in the second stint but unfortunately without any yellows, we had made our bed and had to lie in it. Unfortunately the yellows didn't help us out today but I certainly learned a ton. To get the first 1.5-mile race out of the way is a big deal. I think both cars would have liked to finish a little higher but we just have to work harder in the next one."
FAST FACTS: It was his first race at TMS and his second time to race on an oval in an Indy car ...Earned a season-high start of eighth place in his debut at Barber and a season-high finish of fourth in Long Beach to date...He tested with NHR for two days at Sebring in December and another two days in January before testing at Barber Motorsports Park March 14-15 where he set the seventh fastest time overall at the test as well as temporarily held the fastest time on Tuesday...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 92 points and is 33 behind Rookie of the Year leader Hildebrand (125) after five of six events so far this season.
NEXT UP: The IZOD IndyCar Series will return to the legendary Milwaukee Mile for the Milwaukee Mile 225. NHR has won SEVEN races in 26 events at this track (Sebastien Bourdais – 2006; Michael Andretti 1996, 1992, 1991; Paul Tracy 1995; Nigel Mansell 1993; Mario Andretti 1985) and TWO poles (Bourdais – 2006; Ma. Andretti 1985). They have earned a total of 13 podium finishes (2nd – Mi. Andretti 2000, 1997, 1989; 3rd – Oriol Servia 2005, Mi. Andretti 1995, Ma. Andretti 1991). The team competed here from 1983 to 2006 and 2008 & 2009. In 2008 and 2009 the team qualified second with Graham Rahal but contact ended his race both times.
