IndyCar: Oriol Servia likely to drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in Indianapolis 500

By Asher Fair | Feb 24, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 28: Oriol Servia of Spain, driver of the #16 Manitowoc Honda (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

Oriol Servia will likely be the third IndyCar driver for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 this May.

Oriol Servia, 43, will likely enter his eighth straight Indianapolis 500 and his 10th overall this season as a driver for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in one of their Honda-powered cars like he has done in three of the last four IndyCar seasons for the race.

According to Motorsport.com, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing are set to to field two entries in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” this year as opposed to their usual one entry. There are three drivers on their shortlist, and those three drivers include Sage Karam, who usually drives for the team, J.R. Hildebrand and Oriol Servia.

Rumors are swirling that the likely two drivers for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing are Karam and Hildebrand, and this is speculated due to the fact that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing want to have Servia back in one of their cars for the fourth Indianapolis 500 in the last five years and fifth Indianapolis 500 overall.

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That said, Servia did drive for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the race in 2012 and 2013. But given the fact that both of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s drivers have already been signed for the race but their names have simply not yet been released to the public, it is likely that the team did not interfere with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s plan and desire to sign Servia to join the team’s two full-time drivers, who are Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato, for the race.

In nine Indianapolis 500 starts, Servia has finished the race six times. He has done so in the top 10 just twice, but all six of his finishes have been top 12 finishes. His best finish ironically came in the 2012 race after he started in 27th place, his career-worst starting position in the race. He went on to finish the race in 4th. His other top 10 finish in the race is a 6th place effort in 2011, which came after he started in a career-high 3rd.

All three of Servia’s DNF’s in the Indianapolis 500 have come when he was driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Rahal Letterman Racing in 2009) in the race. His lone finish in the race when driving for the team was an 11th place result in 2014 after he started in 18th.

The most recent Indianapolis 500 during which Servia did not drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was in 2016 when he drove for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and finished in 12th place after starting in 10th.

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If Oriol Servia is confirmed as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s third driver for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500, how will he perform? Will he be able to secure his first top 10 finish driving for the team in the race and his first top 10 finish in the race since his career-high 4th place finish in 2012? Tune in to the race on Sunday, May 27th at 11:00 am ET on ABC to find out.