- Conquest Racing
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Conquest's Enrique Bernoldi practices for the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
Conquest Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and the Atlantic Championship. Formerly it competed in the Champ Car World Series. It is owned by former series competitor Eric Bachelart. The team ran in Indy Lights competition in the late 1990s with Felipe Giaffone, who brought sponsorship from Hollywood cigarettes and Mi-Jack sponsored brothers Chris and Jamie Menninga. The team jumped to the Indy Racing League in 2002 with Laurent Rédon; the Frenchman won rookie of the year honors but was not retained when the team jumped ship to Champ Car in 2003.
The team ran Mario Haberfeld in an unloved Reynard chassis and shared information and resources with Emerson Fittipaldi's team, that ran future Formula One driver Tiago Monteiro. In 2004 the team expanded to two cars, fielding Justin Wilson in a Lola with several others in a Reynard. Wilson signed with RuSPORT for 2005 and Conquest ran teenagers Nelson Philippe and Andrew Ranger, each 18 years old when the season started.
While Philippe left for 2006, the team retained Ranger dependent on his Canadian sponsorship and signed 2005 Champ Car Atlantic champion Charles Zwolsman to the second car. There were rumors Darren Manning would replace Ranger early in the season but this was put to rest with his on-track performances and more money coming into the team. Internet betting web site Goldenpalace.com signed on as Zwolsman's sponsor at the second race in Houston.
The team branched into the Atlantic ranks in 2006 with drivers Graham Rahal and Al Unser III.
After the 2006 season, Mike Lanigan pulled his company's support from the race team due to a lack of funding[citation needed]. In a Speedtv.com article, Bachelart was about to shut down his team when his sponsor called with a deal for the 2007 season.[1] But on February 6, 2007 a New York based company, later confirmed to be vodka company 42 Below, gave them sponsorship with former A1 Grand Prix driver Matt Halliday. However, after poor performances in Vegas, Long Beach, and Houston, Halliday was released in favor of Jan Heylen. Jan Heylen drove the next 9 races for Conquest Racing and his best finish was a 2nd place at the Bavaria Grand Prix of Holland. On October 3 it was announced that Jan Heylen would be replaced for the rest of the season by the returning Nelson Philippe.
In Late December 2007 the team announced the signing of new marketing partner, Opes Prime Group Ltd, an Australian-based financial services provider. Following the unification of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League, Conquest was the first Champ Car team to confirm their participation in the IRL IndyCar Series, with driver Franck Perera named to drive one of the team's two cars.[2] The other driver entry has been confirmed as Enrique Bernoldi will be driving for Conquest Racing during the 2008 IRL Championship.
However on the eve of the opening race of the 2008 IndyCar Season, on 28 March 2008, Opes Prime was placed in receivership,and left the team shortly after. Sangari stepped up to sponsor both cars after Ares also left the team.[3] After the Long Beach Grand Prix, Perera was replaced in the #34 car by Jaime Camara to complete a fully Brazilian lineup. Alex Tagliani replaced Bernoldi in the last three races of the season due to an injury.
Tagliani ran for the team part-time in 2009, including the Toronto Grand Prix that saw Tagliani lead a majority of the race before being eliminated in a late race crash. Conquest Racing entered a second car for the 2009 Indianapolis 500 with Bruno Junqueira the driver of the number 36. Junqueira qualified for the 500, while Tagliani did not, which resulted in Tagliani taking over the 36 car for the 500.
Nelson Philippe returned to the team late in 2009 after Tagliani and Conquest parted ways. The season was cut short for Phillipe and Conquest after a horrifying accident with Will Power at Infineon Raceway.
Mario Romancini was announced as the driver of the Conquest Racing number 34 for the entire IndyCar Series 2010 schedule. Bertrand Baguette began running for the team in a second car at Barber, bringing Belgian sponsorship. The team placed both cars in the Indianapolis 500 where Romancini finished 13th and Baguette ended up in 22nd after losing a mirror early in the race. Conquest Racing planned to continue running both drivers for the remainder of the season but replaced Romancini with Francesco Dracone at Mid-Ohio and Infineon due to Romancini's lack of sponsorship.
For 2011, the team will run only one car, the 34, with Colombian driver Sebastian Saavedra.
IRL/CCWS
Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles Fast laps Points D.C. 2002 Dallara-Infiniti 
Laurent Redon15 0 0 0 229 12th 2003 Reynard-Cosworth 
Mario Haberfeld18 0 0 0 71 12th 2004 Lola/Reynard-Cosworth 
Justin Wilson14 0 0 0 188 11th Alex Sperafico8 0 0 0 47 19th Nelson Philippe6 0 0 0 89 16th 2005 Lola-Cosworth 
Andrew Ranger13 0 0 0 140 10th Nelson Philippe13 0 0 0 117 13th 2006 Lola-Cosworth Andrew Ranger14 0 0 0 200 10th 
Charles Zwolsman14 0 0 0 161 13th 2007 Lola-Cosworth 
Matt Halliday3 0 0 0 18 21st 
Jan Heylen9 0 0 0 104 16th Nelson Philippe2 0 0 0 28 19th 2008 Dallara-Honda Franck Perera31 0 0 0 71 29th Enrique Bernoldi15 0 0 0 220 22nd Jaime Camara15 0 0 0 174 23rd Alex Tagliani3 0 0 0 56 32nd 2009 Dallara-Honda Alex Tagliani7 0 0 0 114 22nd Bruno Junqueira0 0 0 0 0 NA Nelson Philippe01 0 0 0 16 35th 
Kosuke Matsuura1 0 0 0 13 36th 2010 Dallara-Honda Mario Romancini11 0 0 0 149 24th Bertrand Baguette15 0 0 0 213 22nd 
Francesco Dracone2 0 0 0 24 37th 
Tomas Scheckter21 0 0 0 89 29th 
Roger Yasukawa1 0 0 0 12 40th 
Sebastian Saavedra11 0 0 0 29 33rd 1Driver competed for Conquest in addition to another team that season.
References
- ^ New Sponsor for Conquest Racing?, PaddockTalk.com, February 6, 2007
- ^ Lewandowski, Dave. Conquest Racing the first to make move; Perera named, IndyCar.com, February 25, 2008
- ^ Lyndal McFarland and Andrew Harrison. 'Irregularities' At Opes Prime Trigger Probe, Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2008
External links
2011 IndyCar Series season Teams Ganassi Penske Andretti Autosport Panther D&R 9 Dixon
10 Franchitti38 Rahal
83 Kimball3 Castroneves
6 Briscoe12 Power 7 Patrick
26 Ma. Andretti27 Conway
28 Hunter–Reay4 Hildebrand 22 Wilson
24 BeatrizFoyt Schmidt KVRT Coyne Newman/Haas HVM Conquest 14 Meira 77 Tagliani 5 Sato
59 Viso82 Kanaan 18 Jakes
19 Bourdais/Lloyd2 Servià
06 Hinchcliffe78 de Silvestro 34 Saavedra Races St. Pete • Barber • Long Beach • São Paulo • Indy 500 • Texas • Milwaukee • Iowa • Toronto • Edmonton • Mid-Ohio • New Hampshire • Infineon • Baltimore • Motegi • Kentucky • Las Vegas Road to Indy Indy Lights • Star Mazda • U.S. F2000 Categories:- Indy Racing League teams
- Champ Car teams
- Indy Lights teams
- American auto racing teams
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