Servia gets first win with some official help

Spain's Oriol Servia was handed his first Champ Car victory Sunday when series officials ordered German rookie Timo Glock to let him pass on the final lap of the Montreal Molson Indy race.

Glock, whose best previous finish in nine races this season was sixth, found himself in the lead late in the 79-lap race and tried desperately to hold onto the top spot, twice blocking Servia's Newman/Haas Racing Lola as the two nearly bumped.

He was warned by Champ Car officials following the first of those blocks on the final turn of lap 69, but did it again in the same spot on lap 76 when Servia got alongside and appeared set to take the lead.

At that point, the former Formula One driver was told to give the top spot to Servia and he finally did, pulling over just long enough to let the Spaniard pass midway through the final lap on the 4.361-kilometer (2.709-mile), 15-turn Notre Dame Island road circuit.

Servia, filling in for the injured Bruno Junqueira, beat Glock to the finish line by exactly 1 second _ about 10 car lengths _ to earn his first win in 95 Champ Car races. England's Justin Wilson finished third, followed by reigning series champion and current points leader Sebastien Bourdais of France.

While Servia was ordered to go straight to Victory Lane by Champ Car officials, Glock threw his hands in the air as if in victory and then did several rubber-burning doughnuts.

"In one way it's pretty disappointing," Glock said. "We had to give up because I did two times the short cut.

"I mean it's good for the team that we are second and it's good for me. But, in one way, it's disappointing when you have to give up the win. The win was on our side definitely. Our car was unbelievable in the last two stints."

Tony Cotman, Champ Car's vice president of operations, said, "We gave Timo a warning after the first incident and he did it again. We're not going to let that happen and we told him to let Oriol go ahead."

Servia, who began the season with the Coyne Racing team, took over the ride at the elite Newman/Haas team in the third race of the season after Junqueira broke his back in a crash in the Indianapolis 500.

Sunday's victory was the seventh top-three finish for Servia in eight races since moving into the No. 2 car. His first win came in the same car in which Junqueira won here a year ago.

"I'm really happy," Servia said. "I knew coming in we had a fast car. The hard one is the first win. I came so close so many times. It finally happened."

Meanwhile, Montreal continued to be something of a jinx for Bourdais, who failed to finish at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve each of the past two seasons and started from the pole and dominated Sunday before a problem changing a tire on his third and final pit stop knocked him out of contention.

"You win as a team and you lose as a team, and we had a problem in the last pit stop in what should have been an easy victory," the Frenchman said, AP reported.