Panther Racing and Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
The cast: Drivers – JR Hildebrand (five races), Oriol Servia (five races for Panther/DRR, seven for Panther Racing), Ryan Briscoe (six races for Panther Racing), Carlos Munoz (one race for Panther Racing).
Twitter: @Ryan_Briscoe, @oriolservia, @CarlosMunoz26, @JRHildebrand, @PantherRacing
The cars: No. 4 Chevrolet-powered National Guard and No. 22 Chevrolet-powered car with multiple primary sponsors.
Season finish: Servia placed 22nd in the standings. Hildebrand, competing in seven races overall (two in the No. 98 Barracuda Racing car), placed 25th. Briscoe, also competing in seven races overall (Indianapolis 500 in No. 8 NTT Data car for Chip Ganassi Racing), placed 26th.
The stats: Servia posted a best finish of fourth at Sao Paulo in the five races in the No. 22 Panther/DRR car and had a high finish of seventh (Iowa, Houston 2) in the No. 4 entry. The finale at Auto Club Speedway was his 191st Indy car race. … Hildebrand advanced seven positions to finish fifth at Long Beach as his season high. … Briscoe, after moving up 11 spots in the Indianapolis 500 to finish 12th, had a best finish of 13th at Belle Isle 2 in the No. 4 entry. … Munoz, a Firestone Indy Lights championship contender, did double duty in Toronto 2 as the substitute for Briscoe, who suffered a fractured wrist in Race 1. Munoz, who qualified eighth but was moved to the rear of the field, finished 17th.
The gist: Panther Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing formed a strategic alliance in May 2012, which also saw DRR switch from the Lotus to Chevrolet engine. The long-time IZOD IndyCar Series teams shared a technical partnership at the end of the 2011 season. DRR curtailed operations following the Indianapolis 500 because of a lack of sponsorship. Also following the Indy 500, in which Hildebrand started 10th but exited the race early and finished 33rd, Panther Racing cut ties with the 2011 Indy 500 runner-up. It also let go chief engineer David Cripps. Servia, Briscoe (who had sports car commitments) and Munoz filled in the seat. … Team managing partner John Barnes this past week received the “Spirit of Hope” Award, which is given annually to individuals whose “commitment and dedication to service in support of the Armed Forces and their families embodies the ideals and values exemplified by the late Mr. Bob Hope.”... Also this past week, the team announced a multi-year partnership with Charter Media.