Éric Bachelart

Éric Bachelart (born 28 February 1961) is a former race car driver and Conquest Racing team owner.[1][2]

Éric Bachelart
Nationality Belgian
Born (1961-02-28) 28 February 1961
Brussels
Champ Car career
24 races run over 2 years
Years active1992, 1995
Team(s)Payton/Coyne Racing
Best finish18th (1992)
First race1992 Daikyo Indy Car Grand Prix (Surfers Paradise)
Last race1995 Miller Genuine Draft 200 (Mid-Ohio
Wins Podiums Poles
0 0 0

Racing career

Bachelart started his racing career in Belgium and ended in the United States. He was a star in Belgian Procar, a national touring car championship, driving for Audi and Peugeot. He did not qualify in European single-seater attempts in the 1988 F3000 season.

In 1991, he became the inaugural Indy Lights champion. He then entered a near-full CART season with the tail-enders team of Dale Coyne, simultaneously racing in the Belgian Procar series. His highest CART finish was seventh. He failed to qualify for the 1993 Indianapolis 500. After the 1995 CART season, again only racing when his Belgian Procar schedule allowed it, he ended his single-seater career.

In 1996, he entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race for Belgium in a Ferrari 333SP. He also raced in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with the Peugeot 806 multi-purpose vehicle). After this season, he concluded his racing career, with the exception of the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 1998 and 2000 .

Team ownership

Bachelart founded the Conquest Racing team in 1997, initially running in the Indy Lights championship. The team raced Laurent Rédon in the 2002 Indy Racing League (IRL). The team switched to Champ Car, a cheaper series after Honda and Toyota switched to the IRL. Mario Haberfeld raced for the team in 2003. Future F1 driver Tiago Monteiro raced in a satellite team ran by Emerson Fittipaldi.

England's Justin Wilson joined for 2004, ran from mid-season by Nelson Philippe. For 2005, they ran Philippe and Andrew Ranger, one of the youngest teams in the championship's history. Ranger was partnered by Dutchman Charles Zwolsman for 2006. In 2007, Bachelart signed young New Zealander Matt Halliday to his Champ Car entry for four races. Halliday was then replaced by Jan Heylen. The team moved to the IRL as a result of open-wheel unification.

In 2012, Conquest left IndyCar and joined the American Le Mans Series with a Morgan-Nissan LMP2 prototype.

In 2016, Bachelart became managing director of Scuderia Corsa.

In 2018, Bachelart and Alexandre Prémat co-founded Quest Racing to compete at the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1988 Spirit/TOM's Racing JER
 VAL
 PAU
 SIL
 MNZ
 PER
 BRH
 BIR
 BUG
DNQ		 ZOL
DNQ		 DIJ
 NC 0

American Open Wheel

(key)

CART
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points
1992 Coyne
SRF
Ret
PHX
13
LBH
8
INDY
Ret
DET
7
POR
16
MIL
13
NHM
TOR
Ret
MIS
Ret
CLE
17
ROA
Ret
VAN
DNS
MDO
Ret
NZR
DNQ
LS
Ret		 18th 11
1993 Coyne
SRF
PHX
LBH
INDY
DNQ
MIL
DET
POR
CLE
TOR
MIS
NHM
ROA
VAN
MDO
NZR
LS
 NC 0
1995 Payton/Coyne
MIA
Ret
SRF
Ret
PHX
18
LBH
7
NZR
INDY
Ret
MIL
DET
Ret
POR
19
ROA
11
TOR
Ret
CLE
Ret
MIS
MDO
16
NHM
VAN
LS
 23rd 8

References
  1. Un nouveau châssis, ça coûte cher 2007 "Éric Bachelart, copropriétaire de Conquest Racing, explique à Radio-Canada Sports ce que représente l'arrivée du nouveau châssis Panoz pour son équipe."
  2. IRL: A much closer field for 2009 1-20-2009 by Luc Fradette "Conquest Racing team boss Éric Bachelart is one of those who are optimistic and he truly believes the field will be much closer in 2009, now that teams such as his are fully up to speed."
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Paul Tracy		 Indy Lights Champion
1991		 Succeeded by
Robbie Buhl
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.