Newman/Haas Racing
Honda Indy Toronto – Streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, July 9, 2011
TELEMUNDO DRIVER SERVIA TO START SIXTH IN THE HONDA INDY TORONTO; SPROTT DRIVER HINCHCLIFFE TO START 13TH – THE HIGHEST OF ROOKIES
POLE: Will Power 59.5771 106.047 mph (Round 3)
6th: Oriol Servia 1:00.3341 104.717 mph (Round 3)
13th: James Hinchcliffe 59.8346 105.591 mph (Group 1 / Round 1)
Oriol Servia, No. 2 Telemundo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It's great to put the blue Telemundo car up front again and make it to the Firestone Fast Six. It feels great to be in the company we are with up here. The series is getting tougher and tougher but we are getting closer to the front. It's a matter of guessing correctly on small changes and with what the red's (Firestone tires) are going to do in qualifying and we did a good job. It is going to be a difficult race but we hope to move to the front. We need to win some races."
FAST FACTS: Will be his EIGHTH Indy car race here and first since 2007. His highest finish here of second place came in 2005, his previous time to race at Toronto with NHR. Led the race his previous three times here. His highest start of third place came in 2007 with Forsythe. Has led a total of 58 laps in Toronto ('05 – 20 laps; '06 - 4; '07 – 34). Earned four top-10 finishes in seven starts and he started in the top-five his previous three races here. Started 3rd and finished 10th in 2007; started 5th and finished 12th in 2006; started 4th and finished 2nd in 2005; started 10th and finished 9th in 2004; started eighth and finished fifth in 2003; did not compete here in 2002; started 11th and finished 23rd in 2001; started 11th and finished 11th in 2000...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 198.
James Hinchcliffe, No. 06 Sprott Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "The car was good but we pulled the more difficult (qualifying) group. The time we set would have been good enough in Group 2 to advance. We had the car to advance in Group 1 we just didn't get the laps. The tires here seem to be taking a couple of laps to come in and we had a yellow flag for two consecutive laps for an incident with Kimball in Turn 3 and then I caught some traffic after that so, in an eight lap run I only got three hot laps. If you look at the other session, guys were setting their quick times on Laps six, seven and eight so it's a bit frustrating because I really think we had the pace to be competing today. It's a bit of a blow because it's my home race and Sprott's home race; there are a lot of people here supporting us. We're going to try and pick up the pieces tomorrow. Starting mid pack makes it a race of survival because this track is known for claiming a couple of victims and this race becomes a little bit about attrition more than anything else. I thin having a good strategy and just being able to survive the carnage going on around you will pay dividends. The last couple of races we found ourselves in the back of the line for different reasons, and through good pit stops, strategy, and a good car we managed to work our way back up to a good position so we're just going to try to do that again tomorrow."
FAST FACTS: This will be his FIFTH race here and FIRST in an Indy car in his home race. First attended the event at 18 months old and returned annually. Competed in the Firestone Indy Lights races here in 2009 and 2010 and qualified second both times. He finished 3rd in 2009 and 10th in 2010 after contact. He competed in the Atlantic Series here in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, he qualified ninth and finished sixth. In 2007, he qualified fifth and finished 11th...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 seven of eight events so far this season (missed St. Pete).
NEWMAN/HAAS RACING IN TORONTO: NHR is the ONLY team to have competed in all 25 events here and has won twice as many events as the next multi-time winners. Ganassi Racing has won three. 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, Mario Andretti 1991, Mi. Andretti 1990; 3rd – Bourdais 2006, Bruno Junqueira 2003, Christian Fittipaldi 2002 & 1999, Mario Andretti 1986).
NEXT UP: The Honda Indy Toronto will be televised live on Versus at 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday. Live timing & scoring of every session can be seen free of charge on www.indycar.com
