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Servia convinced he could have his “best year ever”

Oriol Servia says a new fitness regime and the competitiveness of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda team could result in his strongest season yet – 18 years after his CART Indy car debut.

Oriol Servia, Dragon Racing

Oriol Servia, Dragon Racing

FIA Formula E

Oriol Servia, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda with Bobby Rahal
Oriol Servia
Oriol Servia, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Oriol Servia, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Oriol Servia, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet and Oriol Servia, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Oriol Servia, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Oriol Servia, Team Penske Chevrolet
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

The 42-year-old Catalan told Motorsport.com last October that 2017 may prove to be his last chance at a full-time ride in IndyCar, and since then he has signed a deal with RLLR that so far covers the 101st Indianapolis 500 and the Detroit double-header a week later.

Yet Servia remains adamant that should team owner Bobby Rahal be able to find the funding to run a second car for the full season, he will be able to deliver and boost the overall performance of the team.

Servia explained: “A couple of things happened in the last year or so that were part of why I got really reignited to do everything I could to get a full season. The last three years I was involved in a Formula E project [Jay Penske’s Dragon Racing], so I drove a little bit at first and then I was managing the team… and I wasn’t working out.

“Then when Justin Wilson passed, and Andretti Autosport asked me to drive his car [at the 2015 season finale at Sonoma], I wasn’t ready. I jumped in, I struggled, I suffered. Then in qualifying I was, hmm…decent, and in the race I was running really well and I still had it.

“Then at St. Pete last year, Will Power’s health issue – the situation for me was even more exaggerated because I didn’t get to drive Friday or Saturday! In Sunday morning warm-up I jump in the car which is obviously great – it was on pole! – and I was P9 on full tanks and old tires. I got out of the car and I could hardly breathe, but [Penske team president] Tim Cindric says, ‘Hey, you’re P9 and you’re actually P1 in the two sectors at the back.’ So I’m like, ‘S***! If I just get the opportunity and I prepare for once…

“So then I started working out, and then by random luck I stumbled on a new diet that I like a lot and I feel better, and I have a new type of workout. I joined Gold’s Gym [Venice, Calif.] which happens to be a couple of blocks from my house. I see Arnold Schwarzenegger there several mornings…”

Both Bobby Rahal and son Graham have always given Servia a lot of credit for the team’s performance whenever he has raced for the squad, an on-off relationship which stretches back to the 2009 Indy 500. And the younger Rahal was also appreciative of the veteran’s help as his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing teammate in the second half of ’09.

That mutual respect remains to this day and Servia, who raced for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport in last year’s Indy 500, has admitted he has been deeply impressed by RLLR’s performances over the past two seasons.

“When Bobby called me I was super-excited,” he said. “It’s a team I’ve been with many times. I like them a lot and the last two years they’ve been really amazing – finishing the highest Honda in the championship, fourth and fifth [respectively]. Being a single-car team, I think it speaks volumes, fighting who they were fighting. I know all the engineers who work there very well and they are one of the big reasons why they are doing so well .

“So when Bobby said, ‘Let’s just agree on the 500 and then try and put the rest of the season together,’ it was pretty easy to say yes. And now I have Detroit, too."

Informed that his next race would be his 200th Indy car start, and that could be the “500”, Servia replied: “Yeah, I was just told that, so I guess we’re going to have to win it! Would be a good story, right?!

“I think if it all comes together, I could have my best year ever and we can make something out of this.”

 

 

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