Newman/Haas Racing
Edmonton Indy – City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, July 24, 2011
TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA HIT BY CONWAY AND FINISHED 22ND IN THE EDMONTON INDY; SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFFE FINISHED 15TH AFTER CHALLENGES
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It was probably the worst race I can remember in a long time. We missed the boat on the set up philosophy. I was struggling a little bit to keep my position but we were still going to be in the top six I think. It seems like drivers are losing judgement lately and finally I see some penalties so that's a good start. I'm really sad that we couldn't at least salvage some points for the Telemundo team like we were going to. (Mike) Conway came and apologized. He tried to find a hole; I left him space but we had cold tires and I think he just carried too much speed and just hit me. It's unfortunate and it cost us a position in the point standings."
FAST FACTS: Was hit by Mike Conway on his out lap from his first pit stop on Lap 24 of 80 and went three laps down by the time he was removed from the tire wall and rejoined the race after he pitted for a new rear wing. Conway was given a drive through penalty for avoidable contact but ultimately finished eighth...Was his FIFTH Indy car race here and first since 2008. His highest finish here of second place came here in 2005 -- his only other race here with NHR. He started fourth, led two laps and finished second. He was also ranked fourth in series points at Edmonton and went on to finish second for the year. In total he has three, top-five finishes in four races and has finished no lower than sixth. In 2006, he started fifth and finished fourth for PKV. In 2007, he started 13th and finished sixth for Forsythe. In 2008, he started third and finished fifth for KV Racing in the first IndyCar Series event here. He did not compete here in 2009 and 2010...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... Dropped from FOURTH to FIFTH in series point standings with 253.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "We were in trouble right from the drop of the green flag. We lost a couple of spots in the first start and I wasn't too, too worried about that at first. Once we got back going I realized that we were really struggling for front grip – bad. Then we lost a few more spots and were just trying to hold station and the yellow came out before we were about pit. And then as everyone was lining up to dive into the pits everybody starting jacking around down at the hairpin, trying to brake-check everyone to get a good run into the pits to create a gap but all it does is create an accordion effect. Unfortunately I didn't see it soon enough and got into the back of Danica. Because we are only going 10 mph at that point, as soon as I touched her, the car stalled. Obviously we got put to the back so on that next stint we thought the black tires would be a bit better for the balance but they were worse so we really struggled to make the fuel number that we wanted in terms of when to pit and had to pit a bit early and unfortunately that meant that we had to do a splash at the end there when there were no yellows. We battled the car all day which is unfortunate because the Sprott team felt so strong this morning. We're not quite sure what happened. That's racing; we'll regroup and just try to be strong in the next round."
FAST FACTS: This was his SIXTH year to race here (eighth race) and FIRST in the headline Indy car here. He has three poles and four podium finishes here including a win. In 2010, he won the Firestone Indy Lights race from pole and led all 50 laps. In his first Indy Lights race here in 2009, he started and finished fourth. He competed in the Atlantic Series events here from 2006-2008. In the 2008 event, he started from pole and finished third in Race 1 and started fourth and finished third in Race 2. In the 2007 event here he started from pole and finished third in Race 1. In Race 2, he started 15 and finished ninth. In 2006, he started eighth and finished 23rd...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 (212) after seven of eight events so far this season (missed St. Pete).
NEXT UP: The series will take next weekend off but Newman/Haas Racing will test with Servia at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Thursday, July 28. The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will take place the following weekend on August 7.
