- Eric Bachelart
Eric Bachelart (born
February 28 ,1961 inBrussels ) is a formerrace car driver and current team owner, born inBelgium .Eric started his racing career in Belgium, but ended it in the United States. His European single-seater attempt turned out to be a dead-end street when he didn't get further than a couple of did-not-qualifies in the 1988 F3000 season. Although he was a star in the national touring car championship, Belgian Procar, driving for Audi and Peugeot, his heart seemed to be set on single-seaters.
In 1991 he was to become the inaugural
Indy Lights champion, which brought him in the frame to enter a near-fullCART season with the tail-enders team of Dale Coyne, while racing in the Procar series back home at the same time. A seventh place was to be a highlight. After a failed attempt to qualify for the 1993 edition of theIndianapolis 500 , he did one moreCART season in 1995, again only racing when his Belgian Procar schedule allowed it, before bringing an end to his single-seater career. After another year inBelgium (the 1996 highlights being entering the24 Hours of Le Mans marathon with the Racing-For-BelgiumFerrari 333SP and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with thePeugeot 806 multi-purpose vehicle ), his racing career was brought to a definitive end, although he did return to the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps twice, in 1998 and 2000.Eric subsequently founded the
Conquest Racing team in 1997, initially running in theIndy Lights championship. The team racedLaurent Rédon in the 2002 IRL before switching toChamp Car , which suddenly became the cheaper series due toHonda andToyota switching to the IRL.Mario Haberfeld raced for them in 2003, with future F1 driverTiago Monteiro in a satellite team ran byEmerson Fittipaldi from their HQ.England 'sJustin Wilson joined for 2004, teamed from mid-season by teenagerNelson Philippe . For 2005 they ran Philippe andAndrew Ranger , one of the youngest teams in the championship's history. But Ranger has proven to be competitive to be held onto for another year, being partner by DutchmanCharles Zwolsman for 2006. In 2007 Eric Bachelart signed young Kiwi nativeMatt Halliday to be part of his Champ Car entry with a 4 race contract. After those four races Halliday was replaced byJan Heylen . His team moved to the IRLIndyCar Series as a result of open-wheel unification.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.