Servia fastest on final day at Sebring

The Spaniard took over from teammate Will Power at the top of the timesheets, and his best time of 52.7035 seconds was just three tenths of a second slower than Penske driver Ryan Briscoe's benchmark pace at the four-day IndyCar Series test at the circuit earlier this month.

But Servia played the time down, saying that the circuit was offering more grip after last weekend's Sebring 12 Hours sportscar race.

"Honestly, I don't think we should give that much importance to the lap times themselves just because there was just 12 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."

Conquest duo Enrique Bernoldi and Franck Perera were third and fourth, ahead of Dale Coyne Racing's Bruno Junqueira and Mario Moraes.

Junqueira only completed 16 laps before crashing and damaging the Turn 5 tyre barrier. The Brazilian was unhurt, but the session was halted for half an hour.

The three teams will be joined by fellow Champ Car converts Newman Haas Lanigan Racing and HVM Racing for their first oval test with IRL machinery at Homestead next Monday and Tuesday. IndyCar squad Roth Racing, who missed the last Homestead test, will also participate in these sessions.

As Newman Haas Lanigan and HVM were not ready in time for this week's Sebring test, the IRL is set to arrange for them to run during its scheduled Indy Pro Series tests at the track between the Homestead and St Petersburg races.

Thursday's testing times:

Pos  Driver            Team               Time     Laps
 1.  Oriol Servia      KV Racing          52.7035  78
 2.  Will Power        KV Racing          52.9451  53
 3.  Enrique Bernoldi  Conquest Racing    53.2843  72
 4.  Franck Perera     Conquest Racing    53.3159  66
 5.  Bruno Junqueira   Dale Coyne Racing  53.6552  16
 6.  Mario Moraes      Dale Coyne Racing  53.9831  69