Auto Racing

SPARTA, KY -- It's that time of the season when the focus is on Dixon, Franchitti and Power -- the guys running for the IndyCar championship.

It means the also-rans get overlooked, even when they've proven they can be a player.

Ed Carpenter did just that Sunday at Kentucky Speedway.

Carpenter scored his first career IndyCar victory by beating Dario Franchitti in a wheel-to-wheel battle to the checkered flag in the closest finish in track history. Even though he had finished second here the previous two years, there was no buzz about Carpenter before the race began.

'I've always known that I've belonged, but until you win one, there are always going to be people who think different," shrugged Carpenter, who gave Sarah Fisher Racing its first victory.

All was not lost for Franchitti, who reclaimed the series points lead after Will Power's terrible day.

Power started from the pole and led the first 48 laps, but a collision on pit road with Ana Beatriz during the first round of stops caused considerable damage to his Penske Racing entry. Unable to fix it enough to be competitive, Power finished 19th.

He started the day with a 12-point lead over Franchitti, but Franchitti now goes to the Oct. 16 finale at Las Vegas up 18 points.

'It can change in a second, so we'll just go (to Vegas) with an open mind and see what comes of it," Franchitti said.

Power was clearly disappointed.

'We had the quickest car, an unbelievably fast car," Power said, but said the pit road accident made it 'a fight to just hang on to the back of the field."

Franchitti, the two-time defending series champion, said he was never told on the team radio that Power had trouble and only realized it when he closed in on his rival to put him a lap down.

'It changed my mood in the car," laughed Franchitti, who said he's not getting too far ahead of himself heading into the final race.

'Just shows how quickly things change. You never give up until it's mathematically possible, you haven't lost it and you haven't won it. We're going to go to Vegas and try to win the big one, but we learned today how quickly things can change."

Power started from the pole and had a comfortable cushion as Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Franchitti and Scott Dixon struggled in qualifying and had to work their way through the field. But Power had the contact with Beatriz, Franchitti and Dixon cycled to the top of the leaderboard, and Power found himself stuck at the back of the field.

Power said he wasn't surprised the Ganassi drivers, Franchitti in particular, finished strong.

'I wasn't surprised he ended up leading," Power said. 'I don't think he was as quick as we were. I was expecting those guys to end up at the front, no question, but I wasn't expecting us to have the day we had, losing so many points. It's racing. You can't do anything about it now."

Dixon finished third and conceded his title chances.

'I'm out of it now, and obviously we'll try to push and help Dario at Vegas," Dixon said.

Carpenter, meanwhile, was patient over the final 22 laps, knowing he had enough to beat Franchitti. His lone hiccup was a broken visor on his helmet that caused him to drive one-handed for a stint until he could fix it during a caution.

'Dario raced me hard and clean," Carpenter said. 'I knew we had a better car than him the second or third stint. My visor was falling off -- I drove 15 or 20 laps one-handed holding it onto my helmet waiting for a pit stop. I wasn't going to let a visor get in my way. Just so proud to be a part of this team."

Carpenter met a tearful Fisher in Victory Lane. The new mother was celebrating with the daughter she gave birth to three weeks ago, and joked the newborn was such good luck she can never miss another race again.

Like many eminent race-car drivers, Oriol Servià began his career in go-karting, but he never imagined that his future would be in professional racing. Whereas many of the most successful drivers are groomed for the position from an early age (often to the detriment of their education and development), racing was initially just a hobby for Servià, whose father became a Spanish rally champion while at the same time working a full-time job. Servià is the only current IndyCar driver who is also a college graduate, having completed a degree in mechanical engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

The past few years have been unkind to Servià, who struggled to secure enough sponsors to fund a full-time ride. But at the start of the 2011 season, he rejoined Newman/Haas Racing, a team he’d raced for in the past, and the reunion couldn’t have come at a better time for either side. With rookie driver James Hinchcliffe now onboard, Newman/Haas has become a force to be reckoned with.

Servià’s hiatus from the track certainly did not diminish his skills: he currently sits fourth in the IndyCar driver’s championship with 367 points, trailing Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon by 63 points. Servià has been an important part of Newman/Haas’s turnaround this season: in last year’s IndyCar campaign, their highest-ranked driver was Hideki Mutoh, who finished the season 18th in the driver’s standings with 250 points. Their best result was in Toronto, where young Graham Rahal finished a surprising fifth.

So far this year, Servià has met and exceeded his team’s expectations, emerging as one of the most consistent drivers in the field. He’s had six top-five finishes, including two second-place finishes, and one of those was nearly a first-place finish at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but the result was unsuccessfully appealed. Servià also leads all drivers in laps completed, having missed only eight laps to date.

We had the good fortune to sit down recently and chat with the 37-year-old veteran about how he got started in racing, his impressions of the season so far, his thoughts on the decision in New Hampshire, and his views on what next year might bring.

The Driver: How did you first get into driving?

Oriol Servià: In my case it was very progressive. I had my first motorcycle when I was only two and a half years old, and then at the age of four I received my first go-kart. My dad was a Spanish rally champion, so he got me into racing at a very young age. As a kid, I was always around racing because I would go to my father’s races. My father raced often as a hobby, [but] he always had a normal job on top of it, so in my head I thought “I hope I can race as a hobby too.” I never thought it would be a profession until I came to the Indy Lights series in 1998 and won the championship in 1999. That got me to realize that the race-car drivers on this circuit actually do this for a living.

I went to college and made a deal with them that I always had to keep up my studies. So I went to school to become an engineer in Spain and had a great time. It gave me a broader view of life and helps me when I communicate with my engineers. I had a very different learning curve from other drivers: most start early and focus on racing. They don’t have time for school. I wouldn’t change it, and I hope it’s an advantage for me.

TD: Were there any race car drivers that you admired growing up?

Servià: My hero in those days was my father – I didn’t really admire anyone else. My favourite driver was Nigel Mansell, especially when he battled Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. In 1992, when I competed in a go-kart event in Paris, I had the chance to meet Senna and I felt I could speak some Portuguese with him. I turned to him to speak, [but] it was the only time in my life when I felt this special aura surrounding someone. It really caught me by surprise since I wasn’t a big fan [but] was just tongue tied. After that meeting, I followed Senna, who wasn’t just a great driver, but also someone I felt was very special.

TD: This is your second go-around with Newman/Haas: what are your impressions of the season so far?

Servià: We are very pleased. In 2009, I only raced in four events for them, and in 2010 I didn’t race at all because I couldn’t get enough funding from my sponsors. On the flip side, Newman/Haas struggled a lot in 2009 and 2010, which were two of their worst years, so our expectations were low coming into this year. At the start of the year, I remember speaking to our senior chief engineer, Craig Hampson, about competing at the top with Will Power, and he said to me then that we would be lucky if we finished in the top ten.
Fast forward to now and we are fourth in points, which is an incredible accomplishment. We almost won the controversial Loudon event in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, which would have been a monumental victory for Newman/Haas. Actually, what we say is that we finished first, we just didn’t win.

We’ve been very happy with our performance. It’s just so competitive this year in IndyCar qualifying: all it takes is one mistake and you can drop from sixth to eighteenth. It’s happened to me a few times this year. The level of drivers is very competitive, and I truly believe that there are 15 drivers who have a good chance to win any given race. It’s just that Will [Power] and Dario [Franchitti] are on those perfect championship teams that are doing everything right.

TD: It seems that Newman/Haas has put together one of the best driver combinations on the grid. What are your thoughts about your teammate James Hinchcliffe and the rest of the squad?

Servià: It’s been a big boost to have James as a teammate. Having two cars is essential to compete with the Penskes and the Ganassis, who always run three to four cars. We are working hard as individuals and as a team to keep everyone together for next year and the years to come. It takes continuity to perform at a high level every year. When you look at Will Power, he’s had the same engineer since 2006. KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan had the most success in IndyCar with his previous engineer, who was with him for 11 years.

We have a great team with a lot of brainpower – as much as any other team. The cars never break down, and we have the best mechanics. Some of the crew members have been with the team for over 15 years, and there’s a reason for that. I think if we can wrap up plans for next year and start working on the new car no later than the other teams, we’ll be much further along than this year.

TD: You spent a year and a half removed from the sport: how did that prepare you for this year?

Servià: The time off just made me want to compete even more. It makes you realize that you want it bad enough to get back into the sport. First of all, you are not competing at all; second, you’re not making any money and you have to support your family. It ignited my fire once I got the opportunity with Newman/Haas.

TD: This year you’ve definitely proven that you deserve a seat in IndyCar and should be competing at every race. You’re currently 4th in the driver’s standings – how do you stay so consistent, especially given the combination of road and oval courses?

Servià: It’s funny: I came from Europe, [but] never competed on an oval track. The road courses I felt very comfortable with from my time in Europe. However, in my second year in Indy Lights, I was lucky to be on the Mears team with Casey Mears as my teammate. Roger Mears was the team manager and Rick Mears was Casey’s spotter. So I ended up learning the basics from the oval master himself, Rick Mears. He taught me how the car should feel and when you need to push it. I was just lucky to learn from the right guy at the right moment in Indy Lights, where I was able to perfect my craft. I believe that my consistency comes from that early training with the Mears team.

TD: I have to touch on what happened in New Hampshire. Take us through your views on what occurred after the restart and your thoughts on the appeal verdict.

Servià: Before the last yellow, I was surprised they were going to go green. Once you see the drops in the visor, the officials almost always call for the yellow flag. We were driving for at least a half hour in those conditions, but nobody was crashing. Once they called for the yellow flag, it slowly stopped raining. I was prepared for green when the race officials called it because it wasn’t as bad as before.

Going into the last corner, Ryan Hunter-Reay was not prepared and was still doing S’s. We got to the cone where we need to start to go green, [but] for some reason Hunter-Reay didn’t accelerate, so I went full power in second gear and passed him. The only problem was that his teammate Danica Patrick spun, which caused a big pile-up. Patrick later admitted that she made a mistake and was still in first gear when she accelerated. So there was only one car that spun. However, they called off that lap as if it had never happened and Hunter-Reay won the race, which to me was unfair. We had the lead when the race was stopped.

The team did an amazing job on the appeal. They thoroughly explained the rulebook to the panel and showed that I was ahead of Hunter-Reay before it went yellow. There’s no doubt in my mind – we had the proof. The rule doesn’t matter where you are: it’s when the yellow flag comes out – that’s when they freeze the field, and I was clearly ahead. I noticed that the panel was convinced, but unfortunately it was left in Brian Barnhart’s [President of Race Operations] hands, and he disregarded all the evidence. In the end, the lap was called off as if it had never happened because of the error in making the wrong call on restarting the race.

Andretti Autosport and Ganassi brought in their team of lawyers to the appeal and they didn’t care at all about the rules on yellow. All they kept saying was that the first rule in the rulebook is that Brian Barnhart has the discretion to decide who won the race when the race finishes. He can overrule anything, and he made it clear that he did not count that lap, so the panel had nothing to say.

Unfortunately, he has set a precedent for future races: now there is a chance that a lap can be waved off if the restart was in error. We all make mistakes, but we cannot go back in time. If I make a mistake while navigating a turn and crash into the wall, can I go back and tell them to not count it? No, and that’s why this ruling is unfair.

I’m very proud of the team, and I’ve been approached by many fans in support of winning in Loudon, but unfortunately we have to settle for being the nice team in this bad story.

TD: After a long career in Champ Car and IndyCar, do you feel at age 37 that you’re at the peak of your career and can now use your experience to compete for the championship next year?

Servià: I know so, especially if we can start working on the car at the same time as the others. If we have the team together, we can accomplish a lot and change the dynamic of IndyCar. It’s all about having the team ready for next season.

Perfection is what Verizon Team Penske’s Will Power performed throughout his three days driving around the streets of Baltimore.  In the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, Power achieved the maximum points possible in a race that had its worrisome moments and its major highs.
The workers that set-up the Baltimore Grand Prix worked feverishly hard throughout Thursday evening and into Friday morning to set-up the track that surrounded Camden Yards for Friday’s practice.  There were many concerns over the track that delayed the Friday practice – and after a few chicane adjustments were made there was nothing that could stop Will Power – not even the officials.
Power dominated the Friday practice session, Saturday’s qualifying sessions, and capped it off with arguably the best driving and team performance of the 2011 season.  Power’s pit stops were the best in the field, the team’s strategy were brilliant, and the driving was perfection.  
“I gave it absolutely everything I had.  That was an unbelievable result.  One of my best races ever.  That’s exactly what we needed. We’re closing in (on Dario Franchitti),” said Power.
Power has quickly closed the driver’s championship gap to five points on last year’s winner from the Target Chip Ganassi team – Dario Franchitti.  Franchitti solidly finished respectfully fourth to stay in the lead of the championship race with three races to go which includes one street course and two ovals.  In a reversal from last year, it was Franchitti who trailed Power for the entire season to only catch him and win the driver’s championship in the final race.
Newman/Haas driver Oriol Server finished in second place, 10.2 seconds back, and GEICO-KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan finished third.  It was an incredible performance by both Servia and Kanaan, as they both dealt with difficult starting positions due to separate crashes before the race.  Servia had a crash in qualifying which sent him to the middle of the pack starting in 16th.  While, Kanaan’s dealt with brake-failure in the Sunday morning practice which caused him to crash into fellow Brazilian and Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves.  Kanaan’s #82 went airborne off the concrete and into the tire barrier.  For Servia and Kanaan being on the podium meant a lot to them after dealing with so many issues throughout the weekend.

A lot of the teams and drivers expected numerous crashes in Turn 1 as they went two-wide to start the race.  There were no crashes in Turn 1 as the drivers seemed to go single file after the back three rows in respect to the tight corner.  However, the race was not without incident – as the hairpin on Turn 3 half-way through the race set the tone for how the race podium would shape out.  Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe started the collision by clipping the back tire of Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay going around the hairpin which spun Hunter-Reay around and caused a blockade where 12 other cars had to park their race cars.
The pile-up led to a long yellow caution which provided Servia and Kanaan, who pitted during yellow with an advantage to get to the finish line with one-less stop.  It rewarded those drivers who pitted under caution to the detriment to Service Central Ganassi car of Graham Rahal who ended up back in tenth.  Before the big collision, Rahal had been challenging Power lap-by-lap, but after some poor pit strategy and slower pit stops, Rahal got stuck behind many of those cars who pitted.  Rahal was disappointed with race officials for not dealing with the collision and oil spill in a quick manner; nor communicating to the team’s how long they would be under yellow.

In the end, Power couldn’t be stopped as he captured his sixth win of the season – the most he has had in a season in his career.  If Power can finish the year as strong as his last few races, there will be nothing Dario can do to stop the Verizon Team Penske’s well-oiled machine.  Overall, the Baltimore Grand Prix proved to be a great event with all of the grandstand and suites being full.  The race was a big success for the city as well as IndyCar as it looks like it will be a race to look forward to for years to come.

Baltimore, MD – A heightened excitement awaits the inaugural running of the Baltimore Grand Prix.  It’s taken a few days and late nights to get the track ready that surrounds the streets of the Baltimore Inner Harbour, but the drivers still feel that the bumpiness of the street course might create a little chaos and a lot of yellow-flag cautions.

Most of the race car drivers worry that the double-file start of the race will cause the most trouble through Turn 1.  “I don’t see how we go green for two laps in a row with Turn 1 the way it is,” said Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay (who will start in the third row of the starting line-up in sixth position.  “No matter how well-behaved we go into it, you still have to get in there with all the bumps.  With these cars, the brake lock, it’s going to be tough.”

The yellow-flag concern was elevated in Sunday morning’s practice as it was cut short due to some major crashes.  GEICO-KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan dealt with some brake failure and made contact with the Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske car of Helio Castroneves.  Thankfully, both drivers came out unscathed, but the crash looked scary and caused a long-stoppage to the practice session.  Immediately after the practice resumed, a multi-car accident involving three of the rookie car drivers occurred in Turn 1.

After the win at Sonoma last weekend by Verizon Team Penske’s Will Power, the Baltimore race has become crucial towards the driver’s championship.  Power, who captured the pole for today’s event trails Target Chip Ganassi’s Dario Franchitti (starting in fourth place) by 26 points.  This is a reversal from last year as it was Franchitti who trailed Power in points and caught up to Power in the final race to win the championship.  Power is a street-course specialist, so given that there are two ovals that still remain in the calendar – the pressure is on for Power to succeed.  Filling out the remaining top five on the starting line-up are Service Central’s Graham Rahal on the first row beside Power in second, Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe in third, and Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais with his best qualifying position this year will start in fifth.

Without much practice time and a lot of unfamiliarity, the Baltimore Grand Prix should result in an exciting crash-filled event for the viewers.  It remains to be seen what the driver’s thoughts are.  In a race that has the possibility of many cautions; it could be anyone’s guess who can take this ever-important inaugural event.