RACE ADVANCE NOTES/QUOTES---- Birmingham, Alabama, March
27, 2012
Fast Facts:
Oriol Servia
- This weekend will mark Servia's second start at Barber
Motorsports Park. In 2011, he qualified 6th and finished 5th.
- At last weekend's season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida,
Servia qualified 23rd for the race and finished 16th, recording the
14th fastest lap time of the race with a time of 1:03.54. The
Spaniard was looking at a top-10 finish, but unfortunately on his
second pit stop as he was leaving pit lane the No. 22 TranSystems
machine stalled several times due to the clutch not being able to
engage. Oriol was unable to put the car into first gear as a result
and he lost a lap.
- Servia will pilot the No. 22 Charter primary livery for the
first time this season. Charter is a leading broadband
communications company, and the nation's fourth-largest cable
operator providing broadband entertainment and communications
services that includes advanced Charter TVTM, Charter InternetTM
access, and Charter PhoneTM to homes and businesses across 25
states.
- This will be the first time that Servia has competed for Lotus
DRR, he signed with the team in January. Servia has
been reunited with his engineer, Yves Touron, who he has worked
with in the past and has a solid relationship with.
- Last year Oriol Finished fourth in IZOD IndyCar Series
standings....Recorded 11 top-10 finishes, with a best of second at
New Hampshire and Baltimore....Among three drivers to be running at
the finish in all 17 races..... Led all drivers in laps completed
(2,103 of 2,011)....Oriol was the only driver to finish in the top
10 in first five races of the season.
Lotus DRR
- This year will be Lotus DRR's 13th season of IndyCar
competition, making them one of the longest tenured teams in the
series.
- This weekend will mark the team's 3rd time to compete at Barber
Motorsports Park.
- Last year Wilson started 5th and finished 19th and Simon
Pagenaud started 23rd and finished 8th in the race. In 2010,
the team started 2nd with Mike Conway and 11th with Justin Wilson
at Barber and finished 7th with Wilson and 9th with Conway in the
race.
- During the off-season Lotus DRR (formerly known as Dreyer &
Reinbold Racing) underwent a huge rebranding effort.
Oriol Servia, No. 22 Lotus DRR, on the second race of the
season:
"I am looking forward to Barber a lot. It's a very challenging
place and it's a place that I really, really wanted to test at
because it's very technical and very different from where we've
been. Unfortunately we were unable to, but we will make it happen
for this weekend. I really feel that we made good progress with the
car in St. Pete and there are a couple of things that we learned
that I think should translate for Barber."
Oriol on the Barber circuit:
"The course is very challenging and takes a lot of commitment.
It's very technical in the way that it has a lot of up and downs
and a little banking here and a little dipping there. Depending on
where you put the car, you can carry a lot more speed than what you
would think."
Back on Track:
Lotus DRR will be back on track this weekend for the Honda Indy
Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday, April 1st at 2:00 pm ET. The race
will be telecast live on NBC Sports. Please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com for more
updates.