Servia praises Wilson's victory drive.

Oriol Servia was typically gracious in defeat despite allowing a maiden Champ Car World Series victory to slip between his fingers in Sunday's Molson Indy Toronto.

The Newman-Haas Racing driver was poised to earn his first Champ Car win after leading 20 of the final 30 laps in an incident-filled sixth round of the 2005 season. However Justin Wilson managed to squeeze his way passed in Toronto's notorious turn three with just over ten laps remaining in a race that saw 21 of the final 29 laps run under caution.

"I feel very happy," said Servia, who will turn 31 on Wednesday. "I didn't lie when I said that every session we are one step closer to the win. If it's just one more step, I guess it must happen in the next race. We're really going the right way."

From fourth place on the grid, Servia attempted to conserve fuel on the 1.755-mile temporary street course during his first stint and reported that the car had too much understeer.

After some lightning fast pit-work on lap 33, Servia emerged from his first stop in third spot, ahead of Wilson, which became second when leaders Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy collided exiting the pits, leaving his Newman-Haas teammate with a puncture. Second would become first in rather strange circumstances some 20 laps later when Tracy, still leading despite a damaged nose, ran out of fuel while waiting for the pits to open under a caution period.

Now in the lead, Servia used the majority of his 'push to pass' boost button on the following two restarts in an attempt to break clear of his nearest pursuers but with Wilson not only saving his own boost but still recording the quickest laps of the race, it was only a matter of time before the Englishman caught him.

"After looking at the fastest lap times, I really see that Justin was really fast," continued Servia, who still scored his third podium finish in four starts for Newman-Haas Racing and now sits fifth in the Championship table. "I mean, he's a second clear of me. I knew he was faster than me in turn three. I was actually slow the whole race. Under braking and at the apex of turn three was my weak point. It's not where you want to have a weak point around this track because it is almost the only place to overtake.

"In the last lap when I was ahead of him (Justin), I tried to push really hard in the last three corners before the start, in turn one, to try to have as much track between us as I could because I knew he was better under braking. That lap that he was a little closer, he used the 'push to pass' and there's not much you can do; you cannot block nowadays. He had the position.

"My car was very solid but I think we could have made it a little faster. It was a very safe set-up. We just had a little too much understeer at all times. Anyway, I think he also deserved the win."