...... to Prepare for the Next Round of Competition
Jan Heylen finishes in third position on the first day of testing
After his first race of the 2007 season, Jan Heylen and the Conquest Racing team used their week off to improve their knowledge of the DP01 in preparation for two days of testing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. During the first testing session on Monday morning, Jan took the #34 Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium / Cosworth / DP01 / Bridgestone to the top position. In the afternoon, the session was interrupted by a red flag and Heylen was unable to improve his earlier performance where he ended his day in the third position with a time of 104.68, just behind Simon Pageneaud and the leader Will Power.
“We had a very fast day that has given us a lot of confidence to move forward,” began Heylen. “We had some good time away from the track which gave us a chance to process all of the information that we had from Portland International Raceway. We were quick on our first time out this morning and are greatly improving every time the team gets on the track which has been a good boost of confidence for all of us. We unfortunately missed our window of opportunity in this afternoon’s session and weren’t able to maximize our final set of tires because a red flag ended the session. Overall, I’m happy to see we could compete at the same level as the series leaders.”
“I’m pleased to see how well Jan and the team are doing here at Elkhart Lake,” said Conquest Racing team owner, Eric Bachelart. “I have seen a lot of direct improvement come from today’s session and I anticipate even more tomorrow. It was unfortunate that we weren’t able to maximize the usage on the last set of tires before the red flag but I think we had a strong showing today with a first place in the morning and a third place overall finish.”
Conquest Racing now looks forward to a second day of testing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The fifth round of the 2007 season of the Champ Car World Series will be held at the Grand Prix of Cleveland on Sunday, June 24th at 1:00 p.m. EST. The race will be broadcast live on CBS beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST.
Day 2
Jan Heylen finished his second day of testing with a few obstacles but is confident for Cleveland
Indianapolis, IN, June 19, 2007 – After an outstanding performance on Monday, Jan Heylen #34 Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium / Cosworth / DP01 / Bridgestone and the Conquest Racing team had a disappointing second day of testing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. After a good start and quick times in the morning, the crew went to work testing out a few planned adjustments. Unfortunately, the car met some mechanical gremlins in the afternoon that stopped the Team progression. The Conquest team now plans to diagnose and fix the issues and have the car in peak performance for the race this weekend.
“The day started out with some very quick lap times for the team,” said Heylen. “I was excited to see where the day would take us. We made a couple of minor alterations because we had planned to test some of the settings and they didn’t end up working out for us. We tried to recover after our lunch break but ended up having to finish our day early. Overall it was a great test for us. We learned a lot and improved the car since Portland. I’m now looking forward to the race in Cleveland since it is one of my favorite tracks and I had a strong finish last year.”
“I think that this test was a complete success for us,” began Conquest Racing team owner, Eric Bachelart. “I’m very happy with how things are progressing with Jan and this test at Elkhart Lake gave the team a lot of good information that we can take forward to the Cleveland race and beyond. We were disappointed that we weren’t able to get in as many good laps in the afternoon today but the team will go through and check the car to make sure it is in the best condition for this weekend’s event.”
Conquest Racing now looks forward to the fifth round of the 2007 season of the Champ Car World Series which will be held at the Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank on Sunday, June 24th at 1:00 p.m. EST. The race will be broadcast live on CBS Sports beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST.
About Conquest Racing:1991 Indy Lights Champion Eric Bachelart started Conquest Racing in 1997 to compete in the Indy Lights series, scoring a podium finish with driver Christophe Tinseau in the team's first season. Conquest Racing competed in the next four seasons in Indy Lights, winning races with Felipe Giaffone and Kristian Kolby.Conquest Racing contested the 2002 Indy Racing League season with rookie Laurent Redon, netting a podium finish in just the third race of the season and clinching the Rookie of the Year award.Conquest Racing rejoined the Champ Car family in 2003, stepping up to the Champ Car World Series with Brazilian Mario Haberfeld and scoring eleven top-ten finishes despite competing with a Reynard. Conquest Racing continued its tradition of working well with young drivers in 2004 as Justin Wilson took second in the Roshfrans Rookie of the Year battle, with Nelson Philippe scoring two top-ten finishes after joining the team in the closing stages of the season. Conquest continued a long history of developing young drivers in 2006, as Andrew Ranger returned for his sophomore season to take tenth in the drivers championship, the third consecutive season for the team to have a driver in the top-ten. 2005 Champ Car Atlantic Champion Charles Zwolsman finished thirteenth in his rookie season, taking seven consecutive top-ten finishes with the team as he improved progressively throughout the season.
