Oriol Servia will replace the unwell Will Power at Penske for the IndyCar season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Power, who claimed his sixth St. Pete pole on Saturday, despite crashing heavily during practice, has been forced to sit out the 2016 season opener owing to nausea.
Servia, a veteran of 197 IndyCar starts, replaced Power in the #12 Penske during morning warm-up on Sunday morning, finishing ninth on the leaderboard.
“I feel terrible for Will and just hope he feels better soon as he was my teammate a few years ago and he’s a good friend,” said Servia.
“It’s not the way you want to get the opportunity to drive for Team Penske, but it will be an honour to race for the team and drive the fastest car on the grid today.”
Servia’s last IndyCar start was at last year’s Pocono season finale, when he raced Justin Wilson’s Andretti Autosport car after his death.
“Obviously this is a very difficult decision to make in the first race of the season, but Will’s health and safety is the most important thing to consider,” said Penske Racing president Tim Cindric.
“We hope Will makes a speedy recovery and with Oriol’s professionalism and experience, we know he’ll do a solid job for our team.”
