Oriol Servia matched his best finish of the season in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car with seventh place in Race 2 of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston on Oct. 6.
The 14 positions gained relative to his starting spot for the standing start were a field high for the 90-lap race on the 1.634-mile, 10-turn circuit.
"Honestly, three laps before the end I was disappointed that we weren't a little higher on the grid, but then I realized how many races we've been running up front and something happens at the end," he said. "So we got a seventh, which is very decent after starting 21st and it was a legit drive to the front for the National Guard team. The car was great on track and we had a very good pit stop at the end, which is just like the Panther guys to deliver when it counts.
"It's a way to build. You need races like this to start finishing regularly in the top five, on the podium and to get wins."
Servia has a high finish of fourth at Sao Paulo in May as he contested the first five races of the season in a Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car.
Wilson rides to support Patrick Dempsey organization
IZOD IndyCar Series driver Justin Wilson will ride his bike this weekend in the Dempsey Challenge presented by Amgen to raise funds for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing in Lewiston, Maine.
Wilson, who carried a Dempsey Challenge decal on the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing entry in the Baltimore Grand Prix, incorporates cycling into his training. CLICK HERE to donate.
“I think it is remarkable what Patrick (Dempsey) has done, and when they asked if I might want to come be a part of it, I didn’t have to think twice,” said Wilson, who moved to fourth in the series championship standings following third- and fourth-place finishes in the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston doubleheader Oct. 5-6.
In April, Wilson joined Bo Jackson as he rode to raise funds for natural disaster victims in Alabama.
During the event weekend in Houston, Wilson hosted a group of youngsters from Decoding Dyslexia. October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Wilson, whose dyslexia wasn't diagnosed until he was 13 years old, had the Nolan Ryan Foundation logo on his car for the races. The foundation helps Texas communities by building baseball fields, community centers and offering scholarships. The Baseball Hall of Famer and Houston resident also is dyslexic.
Of note
The Firestone Indy Lights championship-deciding race Oct. 19 at Auto Club Speedway will be the Lefty’s Kids Club 100. ... There won't be any changes to the aerodynamic specifications outlined in the IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook for the MAVTV 500 INDYCAR World Championships Oct. 19 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Twenty-three drivers tested at the 2-mile oval Sept. 24. ... Construction has begun on Phase 1 of Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie, Ontario. With the completion of the relocation and major environmental enhancement of Miller Creek, the construction of grandstands, the oval track and the road course will commence.