INDY LIGHTS: Title Hopes for Dorricott Racing at Chicago
18 August 1999
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (August. 18, 1999) - - The 1999 PPG-Dayton Indy
Lights Championship is far from decided, but one driver is definitely
holding an advantage as the series makes its inaugural stop at the Chicago
Motor Speedway, on Sunday, Aug. 22.
The Mi Jack 100 - round 10 of the 12-race 1999 PPG-Dayton Indy
Lights Championship - is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. (ET) for a 100
lap/100 mile sprint around Chicago Motor Speedway's 1.0-mile oval. It is
the primary weekend support race to the CART FedEx Championship Series
Target Grand Prix later that day.
In addition to hosting its first major league open-wheel racing
event, the Windy City's racing community will also be focusing on Dorricott
Racing's Oriol Servia, of Pals, Catalonia, Spain. Servia has scored a
series leading 112 points to assume a 20-lead in the Indy Lights
championship. Ironically, his two Dorricott Racing teammates, Philipp Peter
and Casey Mears, are his closest challengers and tied for second place with
92 points.
Dorricott Racing is the only team in series history to have three
drivers first, second, and third place in the championship for more than
one week. Dorricott Racing tied the record at Toronto in round seven and
hasn't looked back. The previous standard was set by the Tasman Motorsports
Group after round eight (Mid-Ohio) of the 1994 Indy Lights Championship.
1994 Indy Lights champion Steve Robertson, and teammates Eddie Lawson and
Andre Ribeiro were first, second, and third place, respectively.
Servia is figuratively following in the footsteps of past Dorricott
Racing great and former Indy Lights champion, Robbie Buhl. Buhl, who ran
for Dorricott Racing in 1995 where he finished second place in the
championship, was a master at scoring points. In 1992, Buhl captured the
Firestone Indy Lights Championship behind a CART record 11 consecutive
top-three finishes. His single victory of the year came in round 11 at
Nazareth. His ability to finish races and score points was the championship
difference.
Servia, too, has resurrected the fact that consistent finishes that
score points are the critical factors. He has seven consecutive top-five
showings coming to Chicago behind five second-place and two fifth place
finishes. He has only finished out of the top-10 once this season (Long
Beach, 12th). A veteran European F-3 driver, Servia is Indy Light's third
most consistent finisher this year having completed 498 of 504 laps and
760.353 miles out of a possible 771.297 miles.
Peter's electrifying victory at Michigan in round eight combined
with his second and fifth round victories at Long Beach and Portland made
him the first Indy Lights driver to win three races in 1999. Furthermore,
his overall consistency underscores the value of finishing races. He is
second place in Indy Lights for consistent showings with 768.293 miles and
502 laps completed.
A European road racing veteran, the Austrian-born Peter holds the
distinction of winning the closest race in CART-sanctioned history. Peter's
Red Bull/Remus/ESTEBE/Chicco d' Oro Lola literally battled nose-to-tail for
more than 96 miles before Peter prevailed over Casey Mears by an
imperceptible 0.002-seconds - the closest race finish in the history of
Indy Lights and CART-sanctioned events - in round eight on Michigan
Speedway's two-mile superspeedway oval.
The previous closest victory in Indy Lights history was when Calvin
Fish defeated Mike Groff by 0.028-seconds at Nazareth Speedway in 1988. The
former record for the closest victory in CART-sanctioned history was Mark
Blundell's 0.027-second victory over Gil de Ferran at Portland in 1997.
Mears, of Bakersfield, Calif., is what model consistency looks
like. The son of legendary Off-Road World Champion and Dorricott Racing
team manager Roger Mears, Mears is the only driver in the series who has
completed every Indy Lights race lap (504 laps) and every mile (771.297
miles) run to date.
Besides runner-up at Michigan, Mears' podium visits have included
third place at Nazareth in round three and second place at Milwaukee in
round four. After scoring season opening back-to-back fifth place finishes
at Homestead and Long Beach, Mears added fourth place at Portland in round
five. His Sooner Trailer/American Racing Wheels Lola has scored top-10
finishes in each race and hasn't finished lower than ninth place.
The leader board sports a 19-point gap between Peter and Mears, and
fourth place Felipe Giaffone, of Brazil, 92-73. Derrick Higgins, of
Ireland, is fifth with 68 points. Although Giaffone and Higgins pose
formidable threats to Dorricott Racing's title ambitions, a Dorricott
driver will leave Chicago leading the series regardless of the race
outcome.
Dorricott Racing is a year-round professional motorsports
organization based at Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
Race results, team and sponsor information may be viewed on Dorricott
Racing's web site, http://www.dorricottracing.com.
ESPN2 will telecast the Mi Jack 100, Sunday, Aug. 22, from 11:00
p.m. to 12:00 a.m. PT (Monday, August 23, 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET).
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot photos and racing art, please visit The Racing Image Galleries and The Visions of Speed Art Gallery .