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PRACTICE NOTES/QUOTES---- Sonoma, CA, August 24,
2012
Fast Facts:
- During practice Servia completed 22 laps and clocked the 11th
fastest time of 1:19.6631 (107.779 mph).
- This weekend will mark Servia's 4th start at Infineon Raceway.
Last year he started 18th and finished 11th. In 2010, he started
17th and finished 6th. His first start at the track was in 2008
where he started 6th and finished 15th.
- Additionally, the team feels extra prepared this weekend
because they had the opportunity to test at Infineon Raceway last
week with Servia. He had a very successful test and logged in
plenty of miles.
- Servia currently sits 11th in the championship with 237 points
and is 19 points from 10th place.
- In eight races, Servia has gained a total of 98 positions (7
positions in St. Pete to finish 16th, 13 positions in Barber to
finish 13th, 7 positions in Long Beach to finish 16th, 12 positions
in Brazil to finish 11th, 23 positions in Indianapolis to finish
4th, 11 positions in Detroit to finish 5th, 16 positions in
Milwaukee to finish 4th and 9 positions in Toronto to finish
5th).
- Since making the switch to Chevy power, Panther DRR and Oriol
Servia have earned four top-five results in eight races, tying with
a season best of fourth place at the Indianapolis 500 and in
Detroit.
- 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.
Panther DRR
- This will mark the team's eighth time to compete at the 12-turn
2.303 mile circuit. Last year, Giorgio Pantano qualified 11th and
finished the race 17th due to being penalized on the last lap after
having run in 6th place for most of the race and Ana Beatriz
started 10th and finished 13th. In 2011, Panther DRR
finished 6th with Wilson and 24th with Hildebrand, 3rd with Mike
Conway in 2009, 11th in 2005 with Roger Yasukawa, and 11th in 2008
with Buddy Rice. The team's best start at Infineon was in
2010 with Justin Wilson and in 2006 with Ryan Briscoe, who both
started seventh.
- It was announced in May that the Indianapolis-based squad has
united with two-time IndyCar Series champion Panther Racing to form
a strategic alliance on Oriol Servia's entry for the remainder of
the 2012 season. The No. 22 Panther/DRR team will utilize Panther's
second Chevrolet engine lease and work in conjunction with the No.
4 National Guard team and driver JR Hildebrand.
Oriol Servia, No. 22 Panther DRR, on practice for the
GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma: "It's not where we want
to be, but a little bit better than the test. I think we found a
bit of a direction of where we want to be with the setups. It's
just like always, it's tight and we need to be optimizing what we
have. A couple of tenths put us P5 and it's P1 that we want to be.
We are a little bit farther away than we wanted so we need to work
a little bit."
Back on Track: Panther DRR will be back on the
track tomorrow at 1:50 pm ET for practice for the GoPro Indy Grand
Prix of Sonoma. The race is scheduled for Sunday, August 26th at
4:30 pm ET. Live coverage will be on the NBC Sports Network and the
IMS Radio Network. Please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com for
more updates.
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