Servia was the victim of bad luck as a top five place in morning practice ended with a broken oil pump thst left him requiring a new engine. In the afternoon warm-up, the Spaniard ran installation laps without problem but, while running his first lap in qualifying, another problem developed that forced him into the pits without recording a time.
"It was really unfortunate,” Servia said, “Something broke, but that is racing where everything is put to the limit. It's a shame because the KVRT team prepared a great car. We were super fast yesterday, qualifying second, and were quick in this morning's practice, so we thought we had a chance for the pole. Instead, we will start twelfth. Last year though, I started 14th and finished second, so this year we are starting a little better, so maybe we can finish even better."
Will Power and Paul Tracy, both of whom struggled for their best form in Friday's qualifying session, will round out the top five after improving second time around.
“It was a bit disappointing because I did the same time on blacks in the warm-up as I did on reds in qualifying, so we didn't quite have the balance,” Power said.
“We have had a bit of a downshift problem, which we need to fix for the race. We didn't need much more but, unfortunately, on my best lap Tracy spun and I had to avoid him, so I lost a couple of tenths there.”
Tracy's Forsythe Pettit team-mate Franck Montagy, Nelson Philippe, Enrique Bernoldi, St Petersburg winner Graham Rahal and mario Dominguez rounded out the top ten.
"Today was kind of a mess," Rahal admitted, "We can't seem to find a set-up for the car that we want, or that I like. It's been a difficult couple of days so, hopefully, we can start to get some things figured out, but there is not much time left.
