Servia Avoids Accidents

Cristiano da Matta lost his gearbox.

Max Papis crashed.

Luiz Garcia Jr. struggled.

And Oriol Servia avoided it all.

Servia’s performance Sunday at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was one of the day’s best, as the Rancho Santa Margarita-based PPI Motorsports driver was fifth going into the final lap.

Among drivers in the CART Championship Series with connections to Orange County, Servia’s Toyota-powered Reynard--which started 21st--was an inspiring sight to owner Cal Wells III as it crossed the finish line in sixth place.

“I was surprised at how mature he drove considering it was his first street course with us,” Wells said of the Champ Car rookie. “I think he and Cristiano da Matta will do a terrific job as they get more time together and the team starts clicking.”

Da Matta finished last among 25 drivers after completing only 10 of 82 laps around the 1.968-mile layout.

Servia, 25, a native of Spain who won the Indy Lights championship last year, appeared snake-bitten over the weekend. He had the fifth-fastest time in practice Saturday, but blew an engine during qualifying and had no backup car available because gear parts were being used in da Matta’s primary car.

But Servia snaked his way toward the race leaders by pitting out of sequence early in the race, taking advantage of attrition on the grueling course, and driving deftly to avoid accidents.

Servia was right behind fifth-place Papis--a former Newport Beach resident and Wells driver who now is with Team Rahal--when Papis lost his brakes and slid into a tire wall on Lap 40.

And Servia avoided crashes on four other occasions, including when he bumped Mauricio Gugelmin’s tires.

“That was my fault and I apologize to him,” Servia said. “I touched his tires and he spun.”

Garcia, driving for the Arciero Project Racing Group, which has Albert Arciero of Irvine as a partner, finished 12th after starting 25th, but was seven laps behind winner Paul Tracy--the only man who showed a greater gain than Servia. Tracy, in his 10th CART season, started 17th.