Servia reaches his half-century.

Spaniard Oriol Servia is set to make his 50th career CART FedEx Championship start this weekend in Miami and after almost three full years on the main CART circuit the 28 year-old former Indy Lights Champion appears just around the corner from the winner's circle.

Oriol Servia has had to fight for his place in the CART FedEx Series since joining PPI Motorsports at the start of the 2000 season.

This weekend's Grand Prix Americas is special for the Universitat de Catalunya graduate not only because it takes place a stone's throw from his current home in Miami but because it marks his 50th career CART FedEx Championship start. And Servia is not only aiming for a good result this weekend but is also hoping that his next 50 starts come far more smoothly than his first.

Settling in well with veteran team Patrick Racing, Servia arrives in Miami on the back of his second best CART finish ever three weeks ago in Rockingham as he brought the orange and white #20 Reynard-Toyota home in a fine fourth place.

But even though he has driven well for Patrick since joining their single-car operation at the mid point of the season in Vancouver, nothing is set in stone for the Catalan driver for 2003. Patrick Racing's GM Jim McGee has gone on record as saying Servia is his number one choice for 2003 and many CART fans are hoping that the popular driver remains with the team for at least another full year.

Should Patrick retain Servia for next year it would mark a welcome change for the 1999 Dayton Indy Lights Champion, who has driven for four different teams already in less than three years.

A solid rookie year in 2000 against a particularly strong field was largely overshadowed by the phenomenal exploits of Kenny Brack. But even so Servia scored points in 12 of 20 starts for Cal Wells' PPI Motorsports team, which unfortunately was in its final year of CART competition.

Following Wells' move to NASCAR and the departure of sponsors Telefonica, Servia was left scraping for a drive until being picked up at the last minute by new team Sigma Autosport. Underfunded and with little team-experience, Servia did exceptionally well under the circumstances and scored point no less than nine times including a pair of fifth places.

However the winter of 2001/02 was similar to that of 2000/01 as Sigma plumped for the more high-profile Max Papis in their efforts to attract sponsorship to the team.

Without a drive once more at Christmas, Servia began 2002 with the PWR Championship Racing (PacWest) outfit in a promising looking line-up with Scott Dixon. However neither car was funded and after just three races the team was history. While Chip Ganassi snapped up Dixon in time for round four in Milwaukee, Servia was out of a ride.

A failed attempt at the Indy 500 with Derrick Walker did not provide any solace and it wasn't until Townsend Bell was given a five-race leave of absence from Patrick Racing following round nine at Cleveland, did Servia make it back onto the FedEx grid.

Although bad luck dogged the team virtually all the way during his initial five-race stint, Servia's contract was extended until the end of the year and he looks increasingly like returning to the Visteon sponsored machine in 2003. U.E. 'Pat' Patrick's faith in Servia paid off handsomely at Rockingham where he brought the team its best result of the year.