Nelson Philippe and Alex Tagliani were the other stallers, at the back of the field, and, along with Servia, opted to pit early in the hope of turning around a Bruno Junqueira-esque performance that may yield a podium. In the end, however, only the Spaniard proved to be a force.
Doornbos' problem, which forced Wilson to execute a high-speed pass after catching the slowing Minardi car on the main straight, appeared to hand the Briton second place on the standings, but, when Wilson then slowed momentarily 13 laps later, efforts in the Minardi pit intensified as the team sensed an opportunity may present itself to reverse fortune.
Minardi had already been hard at work on the Dutchman's machine in an effort to get Doornbos back on track and prevent Power from snatching third overall - fastest lap all that would be needed even if Power won the race - and, when Wilson's RuSPORT team found a way to counteract a fuel pick-up problem and keep running, that was all that was left for Paul Stoddart's outfit. Doornbos duly returned to the track after losing more than 30 laps to the opposition, but made full use of the extra power to pass on tap for Mexico to blitz Bourdais' lap record, setting a new mark at 1min 24.713secs on lap 42 before retiring once again.
Wilson's misfortune allowed Tracy, Pagenaud and Rahal to move up into the top five, and the trio continued to jockey for position, along with PT's rookie team-mate David Martinez, in what was otherwise a largely processional opening period.
However, when Bourdais and Power pitted, having swapped positions when the Frenchman caught his rival napping on lap 24, it was Servia who assumed the lead, his early pit-stop allowing the PKV car to run marginally out of sequence with those around it. The tactic, just as it had for Junqueira in Europe, allowed Servia to climb through the field to put himself in position for a podium in the closing stages.
