Catchfence

St. Petersburg, FL (March 29, 2010)- Conquest Racing’s Mario Romancini was able to hold off Hideki Mutoh to maintain a 13th place finish at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, after heavy rains caused the race to be delayed until 10am Monday.

Despite morning showers, Monday’s race started on time and proved well worth the wait. Safe navigation through each lap was challenging for drivers, to say the least, as passes were numerous, fights were fierce, and a high frequency of incidents caused problems for many drivers.

Mario Romancini was able to work well with his #34 Ronn Motors Conquest Racing car throughout these conditions, running as high as 11th and avoiding trouble in the face of multiple incidents on track as well as slight contact from another car.

“I am really happy with how we finished the race today,” said the rookie of his second IZOD IndyCar Series event. “We weren’t sure how wet the track conditions would be, so we decided to run a medium setup. We had to start the race on slicks making it a bit more difficult for me, but I stayed out of trouble and finished the race with an improved position, which was most important.”

Team owner, Eric Bachelart, is also pleased with the rookie’s steady drive, which finished the team five places ahead of their qualifying position.

“We had asked Mario to be consistent and to bring his car at the finish in challenging conditions,” said Bachelart. “He did exactly what we asked him to do and our performances improved throughout the whole weekend. I am glad with the progress we are making with Mario. We have many races ahead of us and it is important we continue to improve.”

Romancini begins preparations this week to take on the Barber Motorsports track again. This track is new for the series, however, drivers turned laps on the road course last month during the series open test, where Romancini was able to post a lap time slotting him as tenth quickest during the two days of testing.

The Indy Grand Prix of Alabama takes place on Sunday, April 11th at 3:00pm EST and will be shown on Versus Channel.

- Conquest Racing Press Release