Road Atlanta: Conquest Racing weekend summary

Conquest Racing Pleased with Petit Le Mans Participation
-Ginetta-Zytek takes fourth place in class -

INDIANAPOLIS (October 8, 2008) - Conquest Racing came out satisfied with its participation and experience at Petit Le Mans this last weekend at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. The IndyCar Series team was providing logistical and personnel support to the Ginetta-Zytek entry for the running of the 1,000-mile event, a race in which the team finished fourth in class and 14th overall.

The team started out very competitive as driver Danny Watts made his way through the field. Starting ninth overall and fourth in class, the LMP1 pilot showed the speed and competitiveness of his Ginetta-Zytek machine by taking over the lead after 44 minutes of on track action. The Englishman remained in the lead for the next 15 minutes at what time he had to stop for fuel and tires.

Unfortunately, following their strong start, the team lost many laps to the leaders due to difficulties during a tire change, caused by a tire which didn't want to come off, and electrical problems that forced them to change a battery. Despite these troubles, the LMP1 team with drivers Watts and Olivier Pla soldiered on and took fourth place in its class and 14th overall by the end of the classic endurance race.

"I'm very happy with our participation at Petit Le Mans with the Zytek car," expressed Eric Bachelart, Conquest Racing team owner. "I think everyone involved really worked well together and that showed in the overall performance. The car was really quick, it's just unfortunate that we had those small problems because we could have easily finished on the podium.

"We wanted to get an inside look at the American Le Mans Series and this was a great experience. It's a very competitive and technologically advanced series that has a very European feel to it. We all very much enjoyed our experience this last week and hope to be part of it the future."

Next up, this time for the entire Conquest crew, is the final non-points paying IndyCar Series race of the season. The Nikon Indy 300 takes place October 24 - 26 on the Streets of Surfers Paradise on the Australian Gold Coast.

-credit: cr