Servia Gives PPI a Platform to Build On

He is only a rookie and suffered the indignity of crashing in two races before reaching the first turn on the first lap, but Oriol Servia was a hero this week at PPI Motorsports.

Servia, 25, brought home the crystal trophy that accompanied his third-place finish June 18 at the Grand Prix of Detroit, providing Orange County team owner Cal Wells III with his first podium finish.

Just a couple weeks ago, Wells was saying his Santa Margarita-based team needed something to lift morale, and Servia’s drive from 12th place to third was just the tonic.

Servia, who drove a Toyota-powered Reynard, made his way to the podium with first-time winner Helio Castroneves and former PPI driver Max Papis.

“I could see the whole team very happy, extremely happy,” Servia recalled. “You are a little bit there and a little bit not there. You’re so involved in the race, for 2 hours 15 minutes you’re so focused, and your brain doesn’t know what’s going on.”

The PPI team had suffered disappointment through 92 races since Wells joined the CART circuit in 1995 with a Ford Cosworth engine and a driver named Hiro Matsushita. The next year, Wells and All American Racers owner Dan Gurney began the Toyota engine development program.

Poor results with an inferior engine and lack of sponsorship forced Gurney out after last season. But Toyota, which produces its engines in Costa Mesa at Toyota Racing Development, hit the jackpot with the sixth-generation RV8E engine and a boost from the arrival of Chip Ganassi’s team, a four-time series champion.

Ganassi’s Jimmy Vasser earned Toyota’s first podium finish and Juan Montoya the first victory, at Milwaukee. PPI’s best finish had been fourth, which Cristiano da Matta accomplished once last year and twice this year.

“Cristiano, Max, they really worked for this to happen,” Servia said. “It probably would be fair that they have the first podium, but circumstances came along for me.”

Wells appreciated the finish, but clearly wants more.

“I’d like to have a good weekend, and really do something,” Wells said. “I think our drivers, our team, our crew is ready. And as Chip continues to raise the bar, I’ve got to get after it. [Finishing third] is great, but it’s history. We’ve got to move on to the next one and work hard for our first win.”

Wells’ next chance is Sunday in Portland, Ore., where he hopes to provide Toyota with its first road-course victory. Servia’s time of 59.886 seconds put him in 12th place after Friday’s provisional qualifying.

Servia’s crashes in Brazil and Japan--in back-to-back races--caused him to put a lot of pressure on himself. But Wells’ deft handling of Servia, the 1999 Indy Lights champion, paid off.

“I called him after the race in Japan to say I’m sorry,” Servia said. “He was super cool and said those things happen. . . . Obviously, there is pressure, but people have been beside me all the way. They didn’t doubt my potential--at least not to my face. The pressure came from myself.”

But Wells was, indeed, disappointed.

“He should be fourth in points [instead of 13th] right now,” Wells said. “The two screwups [boiled down to] big power, big boost, cold tires, rookie mistake. . . . da Matta finished fourth in those races and came from further back.

“Either way, we should have had top fives in both races, and that’s a lot of points we left on the table. But he knows that better than I do.”

Excluding the two races in which he crashed before completing a lap, Servia has placed in the top 10 in three of five events, finishing sixth at Long Beach, ninth at Nazareth and third at Detroit.

He says he could have finished in the top five at Milwaukee if not for a “rookie mistake” while battling Michael Andretti for fifth place. Servia got high on the track, lost traction and dropped to 19th place while Andretti went on to finish second.

“Me, as a rookie, I thought I was fully prepared to win races and the championship,” Servia said. “Obviously, real life shows that there are things to learn.”