Oriol Servià i Imbers (born 13 July 1974) is a Spanish racing driver who competes part-time in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

. He raced for

Dragon Racing Dragon Racing (formerly Luczo-Dragon Racing) is an American auto racing team that is involved in many areas of motorsport. Dragon Racing was founded in 2007 by Jay Penske and Stephen J. Luczo. The team competed in the IndyCar Series from 200 ...

in the 2014–15 Formula E season, and left the series prior to the 2015 Miami ePrix to become managing director for the technical and commercial partnerships of Dragon Racing. Servià holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the

Polytechnic University of Catalonia The Technical University of Catalonia ( ca, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, , es, link=no, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña; UPC), currently referred to as BarcelonaTech, is the largest engineering university in Catalonia, Spai ...

. Since 2018 he also serves as pace car driver at IndyCar races outside the Indianapolis 500.

Racing career

Early career

Born in

Pals PALS may refer to: * Patient Advice and Liaison Service * Pediatric Advanced Life Support * Periarteriolar lymphoid sheaths * Portraits of American Life Study * Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy * Pouch Attachment Ladder System * Prag ...

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Servià started his career in go-karts at a local kart track where he stayed until he was 19, before racing in several

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

championships. In 1998, he moved to the Dayton Indy Lights series in America. In 1999, Servià won the Indy Lights championship over closest rival

Casey Mears Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978) is an American professional off-road and stock car racing driver. He has raced in IndyCar, NASCAR's three national series including 15 seasons in the Cup Series, SCORE International, and the Stadium Super ...

. He had no wins that year but five runner-up finishes. In 2000, Servià joined the

PPI Motorsports PPI Motorsports was a race team which competed in CART, NASCAR and various off-road racing circuits. The team had one of the few remaining single car operations in NASCAR. Early years PPI stood for Precision Preparation, Inc., a company founded ...

team in the

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

series, as teammate to

Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004. Career biography Origins and early car ...

. Servià moved on to race for the

Sigma Autosport Sigma Autosport was a CART Champ Car racing team that competed in 2001 and 2002. It was owned by former Toyota Atlantic driver Tom Wieringa. Sigma competed in the 2001 CART season with driver Oriol Servià. Servià finished 19th in points with tw ...

(for 2001),

Patrick Racing Patrick Racing was an auto racing team in both Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. Patrick Racing was started by Pat Patrick in the 1970s. The team is best known for winning the Indianapolis 500 on three occasions (1973, 1982, 1989), and the I ...

(from the middle of 2002 to the end of 2003, finishing 6th in the championship that year), and

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

(in 2004, scoring some of the underfunded team's best ever results) teams. Servià also practiced for the 2002 Indianapolis 500 for

Walker Racing Walker Racing was a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. It last competed in the United SportsCar Championship under the name of Team Falken Tire until Falken Tire pulled out of no ...

and

Conquest Racing Conquest Racing is an auto racing team that competed in the IndyCar Series and the Atlantic Championship. Formerly it competed in the Champ Car World Series. History It is owned by former series competitor Éric Bachelart. The team ran in Indy L ...

although he failed to get a car into the field.

2005–2006

After starting the 2005 season for Coyne, Servià moved to the

Newman/Haas Racing Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in the CART and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011. The team operations were based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Newman/Haas Racing was formed as a partnership between actor, automotive enth ...

team after two races to replace injured

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early c ...

. On 28 August 2005, Servià picked up his first-ever Champ Car victory at the

Molson Indy Montreal The Grand Prix of Montreal was an annual auto race in Montreal, Quebec on the Champ Car World Series calendar. History Originally known as the Molson Indy Montreal, it was first held at Sanair Super Speedway, an oval track, from 1984 through 198 ...

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled ''Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve'' (), is a motor racing circuit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. It has previously hosted the FIA World Sportscar ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. The win was controversial, as Timo Glock, gambling on fuel, was forced to pull over and allow Servià to take the lead on the final lap after cutting the final chicane while blocking Servià a second time. Glock had been warned about an earlier unfair attempt. Servià ultimately finished as championship runner-up behind team-mate

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships u ...

. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

he joined

PKV Racing Padayatt Kesavapillai Vasudevan Nair (2 March 1926 – 12 July 2005), popularly known as PKV, was the 9th Chief Minister of Kerala and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times, in 1957, ...

, alongside

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rookie

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantics ...

, with team co-owner

Jimmy Vasser James Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver. Vasser won the 1996 CART IndyCar championship with Chip Ganassi Racing, and scored ten victories in the series. Vasser was the last American to win the CART champio ...

scheduled to do a partial season (although Vasser only drove in the season opener at

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

). Servià ended the season 11th in the standings with one podium finish, a third at

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

2007

Without a ride at the beginning of the 2007 season, Servià replaced the injured

Paul Tracy Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian-American former professional auto racing driver who competed in CART, the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series. He is known by the nicknames "PT" and "the Thrill from West Hill". ...

Forsythe Championship Racing Forsythe/Pettit Racing was an American racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series owned by Gerald Forsythe and Dan Pettit. The Champ Car effort ceased operations after the 2008 unification of North American open wheel racing. Histor ...

. Despite little time in the new

Panoz DP01 The Panoz DP01 is an open-wheel car that was produced by Élan Motorsport Technologies at Braselton, Georgia, United States. It was developed for use in the 2007 Champ Car World Series season, replacing the aging de facto-spec Lola chassis. The ...

chassis, Servià earned a runner-up finish in his debut with the team. He then finished 4th in his second replacement start, which earned him a seat for the rest of the season, as he replaced teammate

Mario Domínguez Mario Domínguez (born December 1, 1975, in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. He has competed in the CART and CCWS Champ Car series and later the IndyCar Series. Early career Domínguez first began racing in 1987 driving go-karts. H ...

at Forsythe. For the season, Servià scored two podiums and four top-five finishes in 11 starts with Forsythe Racing. At San Jose, Servià earned a third-place finish after leading a race high 42 laps. But on 12 September 2007 it was announced that Forsythe Championship Racing had named Mexican driver David Martinez to drive the No. 7 INDECK Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone for the final two Champ Car World Series races of the season. Luckily for Servià in October he was named the new pilot of the No. 22 Pay By Touch PKV Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone entry replacing

Tristan Gommendy Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering. Racing career Early career Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his profess ...

for these two races, because Gommendy had some unresolved business situation. The veteran driver finished in the top ten in all but one start this season, and despite missing the season opener, finished sixth in the Series standings.

2008

On 3 January 2008 PKV Racing announced that popular Spanish driver Servià, who had finished sixth in the 2007 Champ Car World Series, would return to the series for 2008 with PKV Racing. However, following Champ Car's unification with the

, the team fields cars for Servià and

Will Power William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...

in the unified IndyCar Series, under the KV Racing name following

Dan Pettit Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

's departure. Servià finished 11th at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

, impressive due to his 25th place start. He stayed in the top 15 for most of the race. A week later, he had a remarkable run at

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. After falling back to 26th position and losing a lap early in the race due to contact with

Enrique Bernoldi Enrique Antônio Langue e Silvério de Bernoldi (born 19 October 1978) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who raced for the Arrows Formula One team in 2001 and 2002, and was the test driver for British American Racing (later Honda) betw ...

, he immediately regained his lap on the restart and steadily moved through the field to finish 6th. Following unsuccessful races in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, Servià improved his best finish in an IRL-spec race by finishing 4th in the

Detroit Indy Grand Prix The Detroit Grand Prix (currently branded as the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation for sponsorship reasons) is an IndyCar Series race weekend held on a temporary circuit in Detroit, Michigan. The race has been held fro ...

. The final race of the season at the

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has also hosted the Indy ...

brought in

CDW CDW Corporation, headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, is a provider of technology products and services for business, government and education. The company has a secondary division known as ''CDW-G'', devoted solely to United States govern ...

as a new sponsor. The season finished with Servià racking up seven top-10 finishes, five top-5 finishes, and a 4th-place best finish.

2009

Servià was sidelined for the first three races of the IndyCar Series leading into the

. He signed a deal with

Rahal Letterman Racing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 win ...

to compete in the Indianapolis 500. He qualified on the third day of qualifying at an average speed of 220.984, and finished 26th in the race after dropping out with mechanical problems. He then signed on with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for the Mid-Ohio race after serving as an advisor to Tony Kanaan at Andretti Green Racing.

2011

Due to sponsorship issues at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, Servià sat out the 2010 IndyCar season. However, after picking up Telemundo and CDW as sponsors, Servià was able to make his return for the 2011 season. He had his best season since 2005, by finishing with three podiums, six top 5s, and eleven top 10s on his way to finishing 4th in the points. Servià also finished runner-up in the controversial race at 2011 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225. With just 10 laps remaining, the green flag was displayed, which resulted in multiple crashes. As the race was then red flagged, with Servià in front, race control decided to reverse the order and award

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is a professional American racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. In each accomplishment, Hunter-Reay became th ...

as the winner.

and Chip Ganassi Racing filed protests. After a hearing on 22 August, the race was officially awarded to

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...

's Ryan Hunter-Reay. Three weeks later, Servià would score his second runner-up of the season in the Baltimore Grand Prix.

2012

The 2012 Indycar Season saw a change for Servià, as he moved to the

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitro Rallycross. The team is owned by Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Mini, and Subaru dealer Dennis Reinbold. Off the track, Dreyer ...

team. The season started rough for Servià, due to the use of a Lotus motor that was not competitive compared to the

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

and

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

motors. At the Indianapolis 500, the team switched to Chevrolet power, and Servià's scored his first top 10 of the season. He went on to score three more top 5s to finish 13th in points.

2013

Servià began the 2013 Indycar season with the same team as last year, where he scored one top 5 finish at the 2013 São Paulo Indy 300. However his team ran into sponsorship problems following the 2013 Indianapolis 500. Servià was later signed to drive the

Panther Racing Panther Racing was an American open wheel auto racing team. It was one of the oldest continually operating teams in the IndyCar Series. Four years in a row (2008–2011), the team finished second at the Indianapolis 500. Formation The team was ...

National Guard car for Texas and Iowa.

2015

Servià started the 2015 Indianapolis 500 in the 5th row in 13th place. He was unable to complete the race after a collision with Ed Carpenter and the official results had him in 29th place. After Justin Wilson's fatal crash at the

ABC Supply 500 The ABC Supply 500 was an IndyCar Series race held at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, located in the Pocono Mountains. The first Indy car race at Pocono was held in 1971. It was the first major event held at the track, shortly after ...

, Servià took over his car at Sonoma.

2017

In 2017, Oriol was signed to a three-race deal with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He raced at the 2017 Indianapolis 500, and the Detroit doubleheader, finishing 21st, 20th, and 19th, respectively.

2019

Servià drove in the 103rd running of the Indy 500 race in May with

Team Stange Racing Team Stange Racing is an American auto racing, racing team that competes in the ARCA Menards Series and the NASCAR Cup Series fielding the No. 79 Ford Mustang for Tarso Marques. The team has also previously competed in the IndyCar Series with Mo ...

who worked with Schmidt Peterson Motorsport according to their own Instagram-page as well as their website.

Career results

American open–wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Indy Lights

CART/Champ Car

* ^ New points system implemented in 2004

IndyCar Series

* Season still in progress. * ''¹ Run on same day.'' * ''² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.'' * ''³ The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner ...

died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.''

Indianapolis 500

Complete Formula E results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* *
IndyCar 36: Oriol Servià
nbsp;– IndyCar documentary {{DEFAULTSORT:Servia, Oriol 1974 births Living people Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Spanish racing drivers Catalan racing drivers Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indy Lights champions Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Formula E drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Newman/Haas Racing drivers Team Penske drivers Dragon Racing drivers KV Racing Technology drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Dreyer & Reinbold Racing drivers Andretti Autosport drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers PacWest Racing drivers Panther Racing drivers Forsythe Racing drivers La Filière drivers