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Long Beach: Conquest IRL IndyCar Race Preview
The following is a series of news items including sponsor announcements, stats, notes and quotes from Conquest Racing for this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
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Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach, 1.968-mile, 11-turn street course
April 17 - 19, 2009, Race #2 of 17
Race Distance: 83 laps
Live Broadcast: Versus (US), TSN (Canada) 3:30 p.m. ET
LONG BEACH PRE-RACE NEWS & NOTES
Conquest Welcomes New Partners
Conquest Racing’s participation in the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach wouldn’t be possible without the support of a couple of new partners. Joining the team for this weekend’s race are ODW Logistics and TorcUP of Canada. The two company logos will be visible on both the Conquest car and driver firesuit.
“We are very grateful to ODW Logistics and TorcUP of Canada to be supporting us this weekend in Long Beach. Hopefully we can thank them with a good result on Sunday,” said team owner Eric Bachelart regarding the new partnership deals.
ODW Logistics is a privately owned multi-regional 3rd Party Logistics Provider. While there primary focus is in Columbus, Ohio the company has several distribution points located throughout the country in Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. For further details on ODW Logistics please go to www.odwlogistics.com.
TorcUP of Canada, based in Edmonton, AB is the Canadian factory office for TorcUP Inc., which is headquartered in Easton, PA. TorcUP specializes in the supply of industrial torque tools and accessories covering a range from 100 - 60,000 LBF/FT (foot pounds) and nut sizes in excess of 10". For more information on TorcUp of Canada please visit www.torcup.ca.
Long Beach Here We Come
After a strong performance at St. Petersburg two weeks ago, the Conquest Racing team and driver Alex Tagliani are psyched about racing in Long Beach this weekend. The team would like to return home with a top finish in the books. It was on this track last season, at the Champ Car finale, that Conquest scored their best combined team finish. Then drivers Enrique Bernoldi and Franck Perera had respectively placed fourth and sixth with Perera also placing third on the grid.
IndyCar Series 1, Conquest Racing 7
This weekend will mark the first time that the IndyCar Series competes on the streets of Long Beach, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the case for everyone. Sunday’s start will be Conquest Racing’s seventh appearance on the 1.968-mile course as part of a major open-wheel championship. The team counts 10 Champ Car starts, four Atlantic starts and eight in the Indy Lights Championship.
Most starts
Las Vegas resident Alex Tagliani will be making his 10th start in Long Beach this weekend, the most of any driver in the current IndyCar Series lineup. The Canadian has always performed well on the 11-turn street course. In addition to a front row start at last year’s Champ Car finale, Tag has three top fives including a podium finish.
Eric the honoree
Firestone has named team owner Eric Bachelart the honorary starter for Saturday’s Firestone Indy Lights race. Eric will wave the initial green flag and be honored before the start of the race. The Belgian-born driver turned owner won the first-ever Firestone Indy Lights race, which was held at Long Beach in 1991. Eric also went on to win the championship that year.
Charitable donation
Conquest Racing in collaboration with ODW Logistics will be making a donation to the Orange County affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The check presentation will take place Friday, April 17 at 1:00 p.m. pacific time.
QUOTEBOARD
#34 Alex Tagliani Conquest Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
2009 IndyCar Series starts: 1
Best start: 7th (St. Petersburg)
Best Finish: 10th
Points Standings: 10th (20 points)
Overall IndyCar Series starts: 4
Best start: 7th (St. Petersburg - 2009)
Best Finish: 4th (Australia, 2008) – non-championship event)
“I really enjoy the Long Beach track. It’s a very challenging track but also a lot of fun to drive on. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the schedule not just to compete on but also to go to. I’ve always performed quite well there and I can’t wait to get back in the Conquest car on Friday for practice. We’re carrying our momentum from St. Petersburg and we’re really hoping to leave with a good result come Sunday.”
Eric Bachelart, Conquest Team Owner
“I’d like to start by saying that I am touched to be honored by Firestone this weekend. I can’t believe that it’s already been 18 years since I won my first Firestone Indy Lights race. Long Beach has always been a special place to go to not just because of the memories I have but because there is always such a great atmosphere. We had a good result last season there in the Champ cars and we’ve done really well in our last IndyCar Series street course races so I feel pretty confident heading into the weekend.”
CONQUEST RACING AT A GLANCE
2009 SEASON
IndyCar Series Races: 1
Best Start: 7th (St. Petersburg)
Best Finish: 10th (St. Petersburg)
IndyCar Series Overall
IndyCar Series Races: 35
Best Start: 4th (Dallas, Richmond, Kansas City, 2002 – Laurent Redon)
Best Finish: 2nd (Fontana, 2002 – Laurent Redon)
Champ Car World Series Overall
Champ Car World Series Races: 74
Best Start: 2nd (Cleveland, 2004 – Justin Wilson)
Best Finish: 2nd (Twice – Monterrey, Mexico, 2005 - Andrew Ranger / Assen, Holland, 2007 - Jan Heylen)
PaddockTalk Perspective
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