Oriol Servia's fantastic 2005 season didn't finish on the podium in Mexico City on Sunday but the Spaniard did more than enough to secure second place in the overall standings behind teammate Sebastien Bourdais.

Needing only to take the green flag at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in order to secure second overall for the all-conquering Newman-Haas team, Servia overcame fuel starvation problems and fatigue to bring the #2 PacifiCare sponsored Lola-Ford home in fourth spot around the bumpy 2.786-mile road course.

Servia was in third place immediately prior to his second and final pit stop when he informed the PacifiCare team that he was running out of fuel. They called him into the pits two laps early and he dropped to eighth place but recovered to fourth after the other drivers made their stops. He held fourth place behind leader Justin Wilson, A.J. Allmendinger and Timo Glock prior to the third and final restart from a caution period and was passed by Paul Tracy while trying to pass Glock and retained fourth.

On the final lap he radioed the crew that he was again running out of fuel but was fortunately able to make it to the chequered flag and finish fourth. He earned a total of 288 points during the season and earned seven podium finishes and 10 top-five finishes in 11 races for the team.

“We had to pit two laps early for the first stop because we had a fuel pressure problem,” said Servia. “It's a shame because we were in third place and I thought I could bring the PacifiCare team another podium finish to end the season but it was not meant to be. We were running well but when we got low on fuel the car lost fuel pressure and we had to pit early each time. Actually on the last lap I ran out of fuel and was hoping to get to the chequered flag and keep the fourth place. It was not running well but it was good enough to get to the end.

“The car was fine on the last restart. I knew Glock (ahead) didn't have any Push to Pass left and I knew Tracy (behind him) had five shots when I had only three. I was hoping I was going to happen is that Glock had a good exit out of the corner so I could get his tow then pass him with the Push To Pass towards the end of the straight but Glock almost lost the car so he had a bad exit of the corner so I had to pull alongside of him at the beginning of the straight which gave two perfect tows to PT and he passed me by Start / Finish.

“Then I was really close to Tracy on the last lap. He was pushing hard and making little mistakes. It's a shame how it ended but nice to finish fourth given the problem. This season was incredible; just the difference between the way it started and the way it finished. I'm pleased to finish second in the championship; it's a big achievement for me and for the PacifiCare team too.”