Oriol Servia interview: Indianapolis 500 challenges and advantages
The 101st Indianapolis 500 is Sunday, but how big of a challenge is it for a driver? Oriol Servia spoke to FanSided about his return to the Indy 500.
The Indianapolis 500 is one of the biggest motor races in the world — so big that some drivers emerge just to race it. One such driver is IndyCar veteran Oriol Servia, who signed to return with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for another shot at the Borg-Warner Trophy.
FanSided spoke to Oriol Servia ahead of Sunday’s race to discuss the challenges facing a driver who joins an IndyCar team specifically for the Indy 500, the development of Rahal Letterman Lanigan as a whole and whether he’d consider returning to IndyCar full time.
This will be Servia’s ninth Indianapolis 500, and he told us that it can be a challenge coming aboard a race team in the middle of a season just to run one event, even if it is the most important event of the year.
“I’d rather be there the full season for many reasons. Obvious reasons like I want to win the championship and win as much as I can,” said the Spaniard, who will start 12th on Sunday. “But also even if I just cared about the Indy 500, sometimes it takes some time, literally time, to be able to click with people and get the best out of a program.
“It would be better if I did more races, no doubt,” he continued, “but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still not go there for the win, especially [in] a race like the 500 where you have a full week of testing before and you have plenty of time to get to know each other.”
He already knows a lot about Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Servia has contested three Indy 500s for them before, including two of the last three. What is it about this particular organization that keeps drawing him back?
“It seems like they can’t get rid of me or something,” he laughed. “This is going to be my fourth time with the team at an attempt at the 500. I’m totally confident the team is going to give me the tools to do it, and they seem to be confident that I’m the guy that can get them there. It’s just selfish on both sides really — that they can give me my best shot and they think I’m the best man to help the team.”
Servia has also been impressed with the growth of RLL over the last few years, as they have made Graham Rahal a contender for the Verizon IndyCar Series championship for the last two seasons.
“It’s always been a great team with great success in the past,” he said, “but the last two years, they were the highest Honda in the championship, and that says a lot especially when they are a single-car team and there’s teams with more cars and drivers.
“This championship is so competitive and you have such limited time on track that it’s really hard to beat bigger teams and they’ve been doing it. They just have a good philosophy of how you should be working and dedication.”
But it’s not just the team that makes this partnership work. Servia is one of the experienced hands in IndyCar, one who’s always been there whenever any time needs him. Aside from competing in the Indianapolis 500, he filled in for Team Penske’s Will Power when Power was too ill to race in last year’s season opener and also drove for Andretti Autosport in place of the late Justin Wilson. Has running for multiple race teams given him additional perspective?
“I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I have been with 14 different IndyCar teams which I think is an all-time record,” Servia told us. “That definitely gives me a perspective on what it takes. I’ve been with successful teams and less successful teams, and I’ve been able to see what you need to do get the best of whatever you have in your hands. I think it helps me, especially when I go to a really good team like this one, and you just feel at home because you see they’re working the way they should be working.
“Everything has to go in your favor,” he continued. “It’s three and a half hours of racing, with seven to eight pit stops and 32 cars around you. So many things have to go your way for you to win, but at the end of the day one [driver] wins, and all we can do is try to put ourselves in the best position for that to happen.”
Given how he’s always reliable and competitive whenever a team needs another driver, certainly Servia merits consideration for a full-time IndyCar drive. He reiterated that he’d be happy to take a full-time drive if one is offered to him.
“I want to win the championship and I want to have a couple of great full seasons,” he told us. “I still have the speed and I want to do it. It’s just getting a sponsorship in line to do a full season … We’re working hard on it. The team really wants to become a two-car operation next year, so we’ll see where it takes us.”
But the first step for Oriol Servia is winning the 101st Indianapolis 500, and he believes that this Sunday will be an incredibly competitive race — the biggest challenge a driver could ask for.
“There’s 33 cars and I honestly think there’s at least 20 with a true chance of winning,” he explained. “You have 5 Penske cars; Penske has been the most successful racing team in history, especially at the 500 with 16 wins.
“Then you have Ganassi, another great team with many wins and championships with four cars on track, and you have Andretti who’s been super-strong the last few years — winning the last two of three years — with six cars on track. Then you have us with two great cars, which I think we have as good of a shot as anyone at winning.
“That’s already 16-18 cars and there’s many more, so it’s just hard to pinpoint who’s going to win it. Whoever has the good car and makes good decisions for 500 miles and not one mistake, that’s the guy to win. You have to be a psychic to really know who’s going to win.”
Next: Indianapolis 500 qualifying results
Oriol Servia will start 12th when the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place Sunday, May 28 at 11 a.m. ET. The race is nationally televised on ABC. For the latest IndyCar news, follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.