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| Founded | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Éric Bachelart (owner) |
| Base | Indianapolis,Indiana, United States |
| Teamprincipal(s) | |
| Current series | IMSA SportsCar Championship Ferrari Challenge North America |
| Former series | IndyCar Series Atlantic Championship Champ Car World Series |
| Current drivers | IMSA SportsCar Championship: 34.  Albert Costa Manny Franco Cédric Sbirrazzuoli Alessandro Balzan35.  Daniel SerraAlbert CostaGiacomo Altoè |
| Website | https://conquestracing.com/ |
Conquest Racing is anauto racing team based inIndianapolis,United States that currently competes in theFerrari Challenge North America as well as theGTD Pro andGTD classes of theIMSA SportsCar Championship.[1][2][3] They previously competed in theIndyCar Series, theAtlantic Championship, theChamp Car World Series, and theGT World Challenge America.[4]
It is owned by former series competitorÉric Bachelart. The team ran inIndy Lights competition in the late 1990s withFelipe Giaffone, who brought sponsorship fromHollywood cigarettes andMi-Jack sponsored brothersChris and Jamie Menninga. The team jumped to theIndy Racing League in 2002 withLaurent Rédon; the Frenchman won rookie of the year honors but was not retained when the team jumped ship toChamp Car in 2003, as he wanted to come back to France for his family.
The team ranMario Haberfeld in an unlovedReynard chassis and shared information and resources withEmerson Fittipaldi's team, that ran futureFormula One driverTiago Monteiro. In 2004 the team expanded to two cars, fieldingJustin Wilson in aLola with several others in a Reynard. Wilson signed withRuSPORT for 2005 and Conquest ran teenagersNelson Philippe andAndrew 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 championCharles Zwolsman to the second car. There were rumorsDarren 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 siteGoldenpalace.com signed on as Zwolsman's sponsor at the second race in Houston.
The team branched into the Atlantic ranks in 2006 with driversGraham Rahal andAl Unser III.
After the2006 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.[5] But on February 6, 2007 a New York-based company, later confirmed to be vodka company 42 Below, gave them sponsorship with formerA1 Grand Prix driverMatt Halliday. However, after poor performances in Vegas, Long Beach, and Houston, Halliday was released in favor ofJan Heylen. Jan Heylen drove the next 9 races for Conquest Racing and his best finish was a 2nd place at theBavaria 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 driverFranck Perera named to drive one of the team's two cars.[6] The other driver entry has been confirmed asEnrique 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.[7] After theLong Beach Grand Prix, Perera was replaced in the #34 car byJaime 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 withBruno 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 withWill 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 theIndianapolis 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 withFrancesco 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 driverSebastián Saavedra.
In 2012, the team decided to leave the IndyCar series and enter theAmerican Le Mans Series with a Morgan-Nissan LMP2 prototype. The team took its first victory at the2012 Grand Prix of Mosport.
No more actively involved in motorsport since 2013 season, Conquest Racing comes back inIMSA Prototype Challenge for the2019 season in LMP3 category.[8]
1Driver competed for Conquest in addition to another team that season.
2Only used for theToyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
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| 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 | FordXFEV8t | 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 | FordXFEV8t | Alex Sperafico | 14 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 17 | 17 | |||||||||||
 Nelson Philippe | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lola B02/00 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 10 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||
 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 | FordXFEV8t |  Andrew Ranger | 27 | 17 | 2 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 9 | ||||||
| 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 | FordXFEV8t | Andrew Ranger | 27 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 8 | |||||
 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 | ||||||||
| PanozDP01 | CosworthXFEV8t |  Jan Heylen | 34 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 13 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Nelson Philippe | 6 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Matt Halliday | 42 | 16 | 15 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
