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Race report

Servia finishes 19th at Texas

National Guard Panther Racing team comes back from being a lap down early until late spin

Oriol Servia, Panther Racing Chevrolet

Oriol Servia, Panther Racing Chevrolet

Michael C. Johnson

FORT WORTH, Texas - (June 8, 2013) – The National Guard Panther Racing team was able to battle back from being a lap down early in the Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway, but a late spin eventually landed driver Oriol Servia with a 19th-place finish. Servia did not make contact during his spin, but the No. 4 National Guard Chevrolet stalled once it came to rest, and by the time the team was able to rejoin the race they were three laps down.

Oriol Servia, Panther Racing Chevrolet
Oriol Servia, Panther Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Servia started in the 16th position, and pitted late during the first caution of the race to add frontwing to the No. 4 car. Starting at the back of the pack, combined with a long green-flag run, allowed then-leader Marco Andretti to lap Servia during theearly portion of the race, but because the National Guard team had pitted earlier, he was able to stay out longer than the race leader. Luckily, after Marco had pitted another yellow came out for Scott Dixon, whose No. 9 car was stalled on the racetrack. This not only allowed Servia to return to the lead lap, but it elevated the Panther team to tenth place.

The team restarted on Lap 62 intenth and Servia was able to run with the Top Ten competitors on the track, but as he started to reach the end of his fuel stint on Lap 113, the No. 4 spun in Turn One. Servia did not make contact, but his car stalled as it finally came to rest on the apron and the Spaniard was three laps down once he was finally able to rejoin the field. The team changed the front wing and was able to keep Servia in the race, but because he was several laps down, the team was unable to advance higher than 19th position.

Oriol Servia, No. 4 National Guard Chevrolet: "Definitely not the initial race I wanted representing the National Guard and Panther Racing. I had really high hopes to go for a win, since we’re out of the championship anyway. We made a bunch of changes before the race, and I think the car was not way off, but one of the stints we put too much wing in, and at the end of the tires we probably should have come in two or three laps before that because we were already very loose. Then on one of the bumps the rear just went, which was unfortunate. Luckily we saved the car, but the truth is therace was still not lost, because sometimes you can get your laps back at a place like this, but with no more yellows we couldn’t make any miracles happen.”

/National Guard Panther Racing

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