Conquest Racing

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Conquest's Enrique Bernoldi practices for the 2008 Indianapolis 500.

Conquest Racing is an auto racing team that competed in the

Champ Car World Series
.

History

It is owned by former series competitor

Champ Car
in 2003 as he was wanted to come back to France for his family.

The team ran

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

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

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.

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 ran only one car, the 34, with Colombian driver Sebastián Saavedra.

In 2012, the team decided to leave the IndyCar series and enter the American Le Mans Series with a Morgan-Nissan LMP2 prototype. The team took its first victory at the 2012 Grand Prix of Mosport.

No more actively involved in motorsport since 2013 season, Conquest Racing comes back in IMSA Prototype Challenge for the 2019 season in LMP3 category.[4]

Racing record

Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles Fast laps Points D.C.
Indy Racing League Results
2002
Dallara-Infiniti France Laurent Redon 15 0 0 0 229 12th
CART/Champ Car World Series Results
2003
Reynard-Cosworth
Mario Haberfeld
18 0 0 1 71 12th
2004 Lola/Reynard-Cosworth United Kingdom Justin Wilson 14 0 0 0 188 11th
Brazil Alex Sperafico 8 0 0 0 47 19th
France Nelson Philippe 6 0 0 0 89 16th
2005 Lola-Cosworth Canada Andrew Ranger 13 0 0 0 140 10th
France Nelson Philippe 13 0 0 0 117 13th
2006 Lola-Cosworth Canada Andrew Ranger 14 0 0 0 200 10th
Netherlands Charles Zwolsman Jr. 14 0 0 0 161 13th
2007 Panoz-Cosworth New Zealand Matt Halliday 3 0 0 0 18 21st
Belgium Jan Heylen 9 0 0 0 104 16th
France Nelson Philippe 2 0 0 0 28 19th
IndyCar Series Results
2008
Dallara-Honda
Panoz-Cosworth2
France Franck Perera 31 0 0 0 71 29th
Brazil Enrique Bernoldi 15 0 0 0 220 22nd
Dallara-Honda Brazil Jaime Camara 15 0 0 0 174 23rd
Canada Alex Tagliani 3 0 0 0 56 32nd
2009
Dallara-Honda Canada Alex Tagliani 7 0 0 0 114 22nd
Brazil Bruno Junqueira 0 0 0 0 0 NA
France Nelson Philippe 01 0 0 0 16 35th
Japan Kosuke Matsuura 1 0 0 0 13 36th
2010
Dallara-Honda Brazil Mario Romancini 11 0 0 0 149 24th
Belgium Bertrand Baguette 15 0 0 0 213 22nd
Italy Francesco Dracone 2 0 0 0 24 37th
South Africa Tomas Scheckter 21 0 0 0 89 29th
United States Roger Yasukawa 1 0 0 0 12 40th
Colombia Sebastián Saavedra 11 0 0 0 29 33rd
2011
Dallara-Honda Colombia Sebastián Saavedra 14 0 0 0 178 25th
Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira 1 0 0 0 10 44th
United Kingdom Dillon Battistini 1 0 0 0 10 46th
United Kingdom Pippa Mann 11 0 0 0 32 38th

1Driver competed for Conquest in addition to another team that season.
2Only used for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2002
HMS PHX FON NAZ INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH KTY GAT CHI TXS
Dallara IR-02
VRH35ADE V8
Laurent Redon
34 15 14 3 15 22 15 7 15 22 16 11 20 22 25 10
2008
HMS STP MOT LBH1 KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF2
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t France Franck Perera 34 6
Dallara IR-05
HI7R V8
14 20
Brazil Jaime Camara 21 31 24 24 20 14 18 21 14 23 16 24 25 18 19
Canada Alex Tagliani 36 22 12 4
Brazil Enrique Bernoldi 18 5 25 15 16 23 17 26 21 20 26 16 22 21
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t 4
2009
STP LBH KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL TOR EDM KTY MDO SNM CHI MOT HMS
Dallara IR-05
HI7R V8
France Nelson Philippe 34 DNS
Japan Kosuke Matsuura 17
Canada Alex Tagliani 10 10 DNQ 14 9 13
36 11
Brazil Bruno Junqueira Wth
2010
SAO STP ALA LBH KAN INDY TXS IOW WGL TOR EDM MDO SNM CHI KTY MOT HMS
Dallara IR-05
HI7R V8
Brazil Mario Romancini 34 17 13 22 23 22 13 17 16 22 22 24
Italy Francesco Dracone 22
36 20
Belgium Bertrand Baguette 34 23 12 10 25 15
36 20 24 20 22 22 17 18 16 14 11
South Africa Tomas Scheckter 28 14
United States Roger Yasukawa 20
Colombia Sebastián Saavedra 16
2011
STP ALA LBH SAO INDY TXS MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO NHA SNM BAL MOT KTY LSV
Dallara IR-05
HI7R V8
Colombia Sebastián Saavedra 34 13 26 14 11 DNQ 28 29 23 20 25 16 27 15 14 13 C3
Brazil João Paulo de Oliveira 26
United Kingdom Dillon Battistini 28
United Kingdom Pippa Mann 36 20
  1. Champ Car
    specifications.
  2. ^ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
  3. ^ The final race at Las Vegas was canceled due to Dan Wheldon's death.

Complete CART / Champ Car World Series results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
2003 STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN
MIA
MXC SFR
Reynard 02i Ford XFE V8t
Mario Haberfeld
34 4 16 9 9 14 7 5 8 15 19 7 8 10 11 10 5 12 14
2004 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LSV SFR MXC
Reynard 02i Ford XFE V8t Brazil Alex Sperafico 14 17 16 15 16 13 10 17 17
France Nelson Philippe 13
Lola
B02/00
17 16 9 10 16
United Kingdom Justin Wilson 34 6 6 5 18 12 14 7 7 14 18 8 8 4
Reynard 02i 11
2005 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL LSV SRF MXC
Lola
B02/00
Ford XFE V8t Canada Andrew Ranger 27 17 2 16 7 8 11 18 16 10 11 14 10 9
France Nelson Philippe 34 18 12* 12 12 13 10 9 15 9 15 16 14 7
2006 LBH HOU MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL ROA SRF MXC
Lola
B02/00
Ford XFE V8t Canada Andrew Ranger 27 6 6 7 7 9 11 10 7 13 14 15 8 5 8
Netherlands Charles Zwolsman Jr. 34 12 15 12 9 12 15 9 10 9 10 8 7 7 11
2007
LSV
LBH HOU POR
CLE
MTT
TOR EDM SJO ROA ZOL
ASN
SFR MXC
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t Belgium Jan Heylen 34 15 14 16 13 10 9 6 13 2
France Nelson Philippe 6 12
New Zealand Matt Halliday 42 16 15 14

References

  1. ^ New Sponsor for Conquest Racing? Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, PaddockTalk.com, February 6, 2007
  2. ^ Lewandowski, Dave. Conquest Racing the first to make move; Perera named Archived 2008-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, IndyCar.com, February 25, 2008
  3. ^ Lyndal McFarland and Andrew Harrison. 'Irregularities' At Opes Prime Trigger Probe, Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2008
  4. ^ Marie-Lyse Tremblay (January 2, 2019). "L'équipe Conquest Racing inscrite en IMSA LMP3 pour la saison 2019, avec le Canadien Aaron Povoledo". poleposition.ca (in French). Retrieved June 18, 2019.

External links