INDY LIGHTS: Dorricott Looks To Extend Lead at Detroit
5 August 1999
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (Aug. 5, 1999) - Dorricott Racing is redefining
the term "hot team with hot drivers" but with each race comes new
challenges and Belle Isle should be no exception when CART's "Official
Development Series" makes its 11th annual visit to the Grand Prix of
Detroit, Sunday, Aug. 8
The Detroit News 75 - round nine of the 12-race 1999 PPG-Dayton
Indy Lights Championship - is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. (ET) for a
32 lap/75.07 mile sprint around Belle Isle's 2.346-mile temporary road
course. It is the primary weekend support race to the CART FedEx
Championship Series Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit later that
day.
The background entering Detroit is fairly simple - Dorricott
Racing's driver trio of Oriol Servia, Casey Mears, and Philipp Peter are
first, second, and third place, respectively, in the Indy Lights
championship. Servia leads with 95 points, but Mears is only seven markers
off with 88 points and Peter has 87 points.
The nearest challengers to the Dorricott contingent are Airton Dare
and Felipe Giaffone, who rank fourth and fifth with 61 and 63 points,
respectively. Regardless of this weekend's outcome, Dorricott Racing will
leave Detroit with the top-three points leaders. Dorricott Racing last won
at Detroit in 1995 with hometown favorite Robbie Buhl.
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. The previous record 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. If any potential
irony lurks on Belle Isle, it is worth noting that the winner of the 1994
Detroit Indy Lights race was polesitter Robertson. Lawson was close behind
in second place, while Ribeiro narrowly missed the podium in fourth place.
Detroit was round four of a 12-race season in 1994.
Peter and Mears return to Detroit after engaging in one of the most
exciting and historic races in PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship history.
Peter and Mears literally battled nose-to-tail for more than 96 miles
before Peter prevailed over Mears by an imperceptible 0.002-seconds - the
closest race finish in the history of Indy Lights and CART-sanctioned
events - two weeks ago in round eight on Michigan Speedway's two-mile oval
in the Detroit News 100.
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.
Series leader Servia, of Pals, Catalonia, Spain, is arguably atop
the leader board because he has mastered the art of scoring points. He has
six consecutive top-five showings coming to Detroit behind four
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 season having
completed 466 of 472 laps, and 685.281 miles out of a possible 696.225
miles. Servia started 10th and finished sixth place at Belle Isle last
year.
Mears, of Bakersfield, Calif., is a definition of consistency. 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 (472 laps) and every mile (696.225 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 eighth place.
Peter's electrifying victory at Michigan in combination with his
second and fifth round victories at Long Beach and Portland distinguish him
as the only Indy Lights driver who has won three races in 1999. Moreover,
Peter's success can also be attributed to consistent finishes. He has
recorded the second most miles completed (693.221) this season, and is tied
with 12th place Chris Menninga for second most laps completed (470).
A veteran European road racer, the Monte Carlo, Monaco, resident
returns to Belle Isle seeking redemption for a win he conceivably could
have scored last year. Peter, who drives the Red Bull/ Remus/ESTEBE/Chicco
d' Oro Lola, started eighth in last year's event, but was forced to
temporarily drop to last place (23rd) on the opening lap after being
blocked by another car in turn one. Peter masterfully maneuvered back
through the field to finish a remarkable 10th.
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 provide same-day coverage of the Detroit News 75,
Sunday, Aug. 8, from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET (8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
PT).
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot photos and racing art, please visit The Racing Image Galleries and The Visions of Speed Art Gallery .