Newman/Haas Racing
MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, August 14, 2011
TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA WAS IN THE LEAD WHEN THE MOVETHATBLOCK.COM INDY 225 WENT YELLOW FOR THE FINAL TIME BUT WAS DECLARED SECOND; SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFFE FINISHED FOURTH
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "All of Newman/Haas was strong. We unloaded fast and qualified even better. The whole race all I was thinking was 'Just keep it together until the end.' I knew rain was coming and it was going to be difficult. I was telling myself that all we need to lead is the last lap. On the last restart, I had a good one. Ryan (Hunter-Reay) had a problem; I don't know if his tires were cold or what but he had a bad start and even Scott (Dixon) passed him. I was ahead when they called the leader at the yellow clearly. They even said 'Car two is the leader.' I have never, ever seen them reverse the order before so it's unfortunate for Newman/Haas Racing and the Telemundo team. It's devastating. We will have to do it at the next one."
FAST FACTS: Earned his top starting position in the IndyCar Series with second place here and his second front row start in 2011 (3rd at Indy 500). His top start in Champ Car was pole in Australia in 2005... Will be his FIRST open wheel race here...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 308.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It was not a bad afternoon really. We started off quite well. The first stint we managed to get ourselves up into second there and got a good gap in front of us and behind us and were just sort of cruising around. On that first pit stop I went a bit long in the box and then we had a problem with the right rear so it was a bit delayed and we lost some spots on track. We had some cautions to close things up and we were able to get by some guys again. Sitting under that long caution in the middle of the race gave everybody some time to think about things and we sort of worked on a bit of strategy. The restart probably came a little bit too early and we had another accident right away which is unfortunate. Then once we got back going it was pretty good. Our last stop went pretty well and we managed to hold on to fourth place with, again, a good gap up to third and back to fifth. We were running a good pace but I don't think we were the fastest car by ourselves but we were really good in traffic and on a short track like this that's the name of the game. It's a great result for the team but I feel bad for Oriol. That mess on the last restart was a terrible call. I don't know who was making the decisions but it was absolutely the wrong one which is a shame because it marred the end of what was otherwise a really good event."
FAST FACTS: Earned his career best start in Indy car with fourth place here... This will be his FIRST Indy car race here...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 16th with a total of 217 points.
1 WIN, 1 POLE, 4 PODIUMS IN FIVE NEW HAMPSHIRE EVENTS: Newman/Haas Racing competed in CART-sanctioned events here from 1992-1995. The team has earned ONE WIN (Nigel Mansell 1993), ONE POLE (Mansell 1993), THREE FRONT ROW STARTS (2nd – Michael Andretti 1992; Oriol Servia 2011) and THREE PODIUMS (2nd – Mi. Andretti 1992, 1995; Servia 2011).
Tune In... The series will take next weekend off before returning to action at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
