Catchfence

INDIANAPOLIS (April 7, 2011) – Conquest Racing and Columbian driver Sebastian Saavedra are back in action this weekend at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. In his second start with the team and first IndyCar appearance on a road course, the 20-year-old rookie had a strong showing at the series’ season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg last weekend.

The team is hoping to take that momentum to Barber Motorsports Park’s 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course. Saavedra competed at Barber in the IndyLights Series last year, where he finished third.

Looking for early-season improvements in both car set-up and driver performance, the engineers took the time to review the data from the open test and also bringing on driver coach Mike Zimicki. Zimicki coached Graham Rahal and Danica Patrick early in their careers.

Sebastian Saavedra, No. 34 Conquest Racing Dallara / Honda / Firestone

“We had a great run last week at St. Pete in my ‘official’ debut in an IndyCar. I had a couple of problems but it’s all about learning right now.

Barber is a place where it’s very hard to set up a good car, and IndyCar is so different (from driving the IndyLights car), so it will be completely new. Having a driver coach is something we are going to try for the first time with this race. We want to get as much help as possible to have a good result. I want to learn from ground zero and am looking forward to learning where I can improve.

Our main goal this weekend is trying to improve on our performance in the open test last month. We saw a lot of things that we need to work on, and we have put a lot of time into it. Going to the shaker rig on Monday gives me a lot of confidence, knowing the team is putting everything it has into being fast. We are a one car team, but we are very focused and have great people behind the engineering. Hopefully that will put us in a good position to having a good run this weekend and adding a lot of points in the championship.”

ABOUT CONQUEST RACING

Conquest Racing is entering its 15th season of professional racing. Throughout its history, the team has been known to give young up and coming drivers a chance to make it to the big leagues and Conquest is keeping up that tradition with 20-year-old Columbian Sebastian Saavedra this year.

- Conquest Racing Press Release