Servia gives converts hope.

Oriol Servia paced the second and final day of the Sebring test for those teams and drivers making the switch from Champ Cars to the IndyCar Series, posting the third best time of all runners to have used the Florida facility in pre-season.

Once action got underway at noon - the morning having succumbed to heavy rains that swept through the area just before the scheduled start time of 9am - six drivers again practiced on the 1.7-mile airfield circuit. Servia's fastest lap was timed at 52.7035secs, besting his new KV Racing Technology team-mate Will Power by 0.2416secs as he added another 78 laps to his tally in the eye-catching orange, white and blue Dallara-Honda.

The Spaniard completed 174 laps over the course of two days, the most of any of the drivers present, but he was keen to point out that little should be read into the times given that the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours sportscar race, which ran at the weekend, would have made conditions different for the converts and the IndyCar 'regulars', who tested two weeks ago..

"Honestly, I don't think we should give that much importance to the lap times themselves. just because there was twelve hours of a thousand cars running here, so there's a lot of rubber," Servia said.

"I am happy with the balance of the car. Yesterday, we tried some things and I didn't really like the car. But, today, we tried some other things that really suit me and I like the car. We ended up fast. I'm very happy that both cars ran trouble-free over the two days. That's a big accomplishment."

Power fractionally improved on his pace-setting Wednesday time to post a mark that would stand him fifth on the combined times, while Conquest's eleventh-hour signing, Enrique Bernoldi, vaulted up the order after completing just four laps on day one. The Brazilian posted the third best lap of the day at 53.2843secs to edge ahead of team-mate Franck Perera and Dale Coyne's Brazilian combination of Bruno Junqueira and F3 graduate Mario Moraes.

The session was interrupted for approximately 30 minutes in the afternoon when Junqueira's #18 machine made contact with the tyre barrier in turn five. Junqueira was not injured in the incident, which prevented him from completing more than 77 laps during the test. Moraes, meanwhile, lapped within four-tenths of his more experienced team-mate.

The drivers and teams now head to Homestead-Miami Speedway for testing under the lights over 24-25 March, where the expect to be joined by fellow CCWS converts HVM Racing and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, as well as Roth Racing, who drivers Marty Roth and Jay Howard did not participate in the open test at the Florida oval in February.

Test times - Sebring (20 March):

Oriol Servia KV 52.7035secs 78 lapsWill Power KV/Team Australia 52.9451secs 53 lapsEnrique Bernoldi Conquest 53.2843secs 72 lapsFranck Perera Conquest 53.3159secs 66 lapsBruno Junqueira Coyne 53.6552secs 16 lapsMario Moraes Coyne 53.9831secs 69 laps

While Servia insisted that times could not be compared between the transition test and that carried out by the IRL regulars at Sebring before the recent Mobil 1 Twelve Hours, the combined timesheet would show the Spaniard in third place behind Penske duo Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves.

Comparison times - Sebring (4-7 March and 19-20 March):

Ryan Briscoe Penske 52.4202secs 176 lapsHelio Castroneves Penske 52.4531secs 142 lapsOriol Servia KV 52.7035secs 174 lapsTony Kanaan AGR 52.8609secs 181 lapsWill Power KV/Team Australia 52.9451secs 130 lapsHideki Mutoh AGR 52.9513secs 175 lapsDan Wheldon Ganassi 53.0131secs 182 lapsScott Dixon Ganassi 53.0286secs 176 lapsDarren Manning Foyt 53.0433secs 96 lapsBruno Junqueira Coyne 53.2339secs 77 lapsMarco Andretti AGR 53.2452secs 166 lapsVitor Meira Panther 53.2467secs 201 lapsEnrique Bernoldi Conquest 53.2843secs 76 lapsFranck Perera Conquest 53.3159secs 89 lapsAJ Foyt IV Vision 53.3477secs 226 lapsBuddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold 53.3859secs 146 lapsRyan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman 53.4570secs 170 lapsDanica Patrick AGR 53.5015secs 146 lapsJay Howard Roth 53.8033secs 155 lapsMario Moraes Coyne 53.9831secs 84 lapsTownsend Bell Dreyer & Reinbold 54.0505secs 77 lapsEd Carpenter Vision 54.1869secs 245 lapsMarty Roth Roth 54.4976secs 184 lapsMilka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold 56.4081secs 50 laps

Details in italics from transition test 19-20 March