Catchfence

“Tomas Scheckter crosses finish line in 14th”

Sparta, KY (September 4, 2010) – After an outstanding performance in qualifying yesterday, Conquest Racing was looking for more of the same in tonight’s Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway and while the results were not what they desired, the team put in a strong performance with Bertrand Baguette scoring his first top 10 of the season.

Conquest Racing was starting both cars within the first five rows with Belgian Baguette sixth on the grid and Tomas Scheckter 10th. Right from the start both drivers gained positions with Baguette moving up to fourth and Scheckter taking over fifth.

Baguette then moved into third place on a lap 10 restart after overtaking Penske Racing’s Will Power. The driver of the No. 34 Conquest Racing car maintained his position until the pack behind caught up to him.

By lap 29, Baguette, who has been making great progress throughout the season, had settled into seventh place, fighting with the likes of Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti.

In the meantime, Scheckter, aboard the No. 36 Norcote International car, was having a battle of his own, fighting for 10th place with Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan.

By the time racing resumed on lap 96, following a second caution period that came out on lap 80, Baguette was 14th with the South African in 11th.

While the rookie was able to make up some positions and battle with Paul Tracy for 10th, Scheckter fell back to 13th.

With no more caution periods until the end of the race, the Conquest drivers, just like everyone else, had to stop for a splash of fuel in the closing laps.

Following their final stop, Baguette was able to gain a couple of positions and finish 10th with Scheckter placing 14th.

Conquest Racing will now be heading back to its Indianapolis shop to start packing for the trip to Japan. The next round on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule takes place at Twin Ring Motegi, September 18, 2010 with the Indy Japan 300.

Conquest Racing Quoteboard

10th – Bertrand Baguette No. 34 Conquest Racing Dallara / Honda / Firestone

“I think it was a good race for us, starting P6 and running third for a while. It felt good for the team and for me to be in that position. Unfortunately, we lost some positions during a pit stop, which put us at the back of the pack. I was able to gain some positions on the restart but then I got stuck behind Tracy. He was difficult to overtake because he was going on the inside and outside and never doing the same thing. We finally did get by him and in the end score our first top 10. We’ve been continuously improving, which is good, and hopefully we can do even better at the next one.”

14th – Tomas Scheckter No. 36 Norcote International Dallara / Honda / Firestone

“I struggled a little bit tonight. The car wasn’t as good as in final practice yesterday and not as good as I thought it would be with the changes we made. But overall I have to thank Conquest Racing. We had a great qualifying. I think we improved the car from Chicago to here and now we have to see how we can keep improving. A big thank you to everybody and especially to the crew who did great pit stops. I also want to thank Norcote, it was great to have them here in Kentucky.”

- Conquest Racing Press Release