The following is a series of stats, notes and quotes from Conquest Racing for this weekend’s Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Firestone Indy 200 Nashville Superspeedway, 1.33-mile oval
July 10 – July 12, 2008, Race #11
Race Distance: 200 laps (266 miles)
Broadcast: ESPN, 8:00 pm ET
NASHVILLE PRE-RACE NOTES
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Conquest Racing will be making its second appearance in Nashville this weekend, after the team raced there in its initial IndyCar Series season in 2002 with Frenchman Laurent Redon. The "transition" team has been gradually improving on ovals all season. At the last oval race in Richmond , rookie Jaime Camara led 44 laps and ran for the majority of the race up front before crashing out while running third.
The team hopes that they can carry over the momentum gained from that oval run to Nashville and that the results will finally come through this weekend. The team with its two rookie drivers will get one hour and 30 minutes of extra practice time today during the rookie practice.
Camara’s Nashville Success
IndyCar Series rookie, Jaime Camara has known much success at Nashville Superspeedway. The former Firestone Indy Lights driver has three starts at the 1.33-mile oval in the support series with three podium finishes including a win from pole position in 2005 when he was driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. His other results were a second and third place.
Post-Race Rewards Part Two
Jaime Camara was given the Firestone "Tire-ific" Move of the Race award in Watkins Glen for charging to the front and leading for 44 laps at Richmond the previous week.
Best of Conquest 2008
Conquest scored its best oval starting position of the season with Enrique Bernoldi with an eighth spot on the grid in Milwaukee and achieved its best combined effort when the team placed both drivers in the top six in Long Beach in April at the Champ Car World Series finale. The team also completed their first Indianapolis 500 this year when Bernoldi took the checkered flag on the lead lap in 15th place.
It was the Brazilian’s first oval finish of the season. Bernoldi led the team’s first laps of the season in St. Petersburg (3) while Jaime Camara led the team’s first oval laps (44) of the season in Richmond .
QUOTEBOARD
#34 Jaime Camara Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone
IndyCar Series Starts: 7
Best 2008 Start: 19th (Kansas City)
Best 2008 Finish: 14th (Richmond)
"Rookie of the Year" Standings: 8th
Point Standings: 24th (86 points)
"Last weekend was a difficult weekend for me, even if I did gain a lot of experience on a road course, but I am looking to bounce back in Nashville with a strong result. I’ve had a lot of success there in Firestone Indy Lights with three podium finishes including a win and I hope I can do well in an indy car.
We did really well on our last oval in Richmond so hopefully we can keep that momentum going in Nashville . Obviously Nashville is a longer oval than Richmond but we’ve been progressing a lot, now we just have to finish a race."
#36 Enrique Bernoldi Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone
IndyCar Series Starts: 9
Best 2008 Start: 8th (Long Beach, Milwaukee)
Best 2008 Finish: 4th (Long Beach)
"Rookie of the Year" Standings: 6th
Point Standings: 20th (160 points)
"I’ve had a string of bad luck in the last few races and I hope that will change this weekend. We gave the crew more work than they needed again last week and it would be really nice to leave Nashville without giving them that extra work!
I feel that a really good result for us is on its way and it would be very rewarding if it came this weekend because the team as a whole has progressed on ovals but we have yet to show it by crossing the finish line in a competitive position."
Eric Bachelart, owner Conquest Racing:
"We had a very difficult weekend last week in Watkins Glen and even if we know that coming into this weekend on a superspeedway will not be easy, we hope that we can bounce back with a good result. The team has been working hard and it has not been easy.
We have three more races left in this six week stint and we hope that our luck will turn around this weekend as it would be great motivation for everyone. Both Jaime and Enrique have continuously improved but it has yet to show up in the final results."
CONQUEST RACING AT A GLANCE
2008 SEASON
IndyCar Series Races: 9
Best Start: 8th (Milwaukee - Enrique Bernoldi)
Best Finish: 5th (St. Petersburg - Enrique Bernoldi)
Champ Car Races: 1 (Long Beach)
Best Start: 3rd (Franck Perera)
Best Finish: 4th (Enrique Bernoldi)
IndyCar Series Overall
IndyCar Series Races: 26
Best Start: 4th (Dallas, Richmond, Kansas City, 2002 – Laurent Redon)
Best Finish: 2nd (Fontana, 2002 – Laurent Redon)
-Karina Redmond -
