Catchfence

SAO PAULO, Brazil (April 30, 2011) – Conquest Racing’s Sebastian Saavedra qualified 23rd for Sunday’s Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle. It will be his first time racing on the on the 11-turn, 2.563-mile street circuit.

The young Colombian driver was able to improve his lap times by nearly two seconds from the first practiced session to qualifying, but the field was very tight. He is focused on driving a mistake-free race in the No. 34 car and gaining momentum in the championship points race.

Saavedra, who scored one win from pole and claimed five top five finishes in Firestone Indy Lights last year, is challenging for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year Award. After putting in his best performance of the season in the previous round at Long Beach, Saavedra is just 6 points out of the top rookie spot currently held by JR Hildebrand.

Both Saavedra and Conquest Racing are well-acquainted with Rookie of the Year honors. The 20-year-old was Firestone Indy Lights 2009 Rookie of the Year and the Indianapolis-based team took home the IndyCar award in 2002 and 2009.

Sebastian Saavedra, No. 34 Conquest Racing
“I am very happy to race here in the streets of Sao Paulo. It is a beautiful place where I used to live in 2004, and it’s always nice to come back. Being my first time on this circuit should be interesting. I got a very good feel for the car on the track today. We made an aggressive change for qualifying that didn’t quite pay off in this very tight field. But, I’m very focused on continuing to develop the car as we’ve been doing since day one here at Conquest Racing and I feel we can be competitive.”

VERSUS’ coverage of qualifications airs at 6 p.m. ET. Teams will get a 30-minute warm-up Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET before the green flag drops at 12:20 p.m. ET, with the live race broadcast on VERSUS starting at 12 p.m. ET. Fans can also catch race coverage on IMS Radio Network affiliates, XM Radio 94 and Sirius 212.

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. British driver Pippa Mann will make her IZOD IndyCar Series debut with the team at the Indianapolis 500.

- Conquest Racing, Press Release