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	28 February 1961 Brussels
Champ Car career
24 races run over 2 years
Years active	1992, 1995
Team(s)	Payton/Coyne Racing
Best finish	18th (1992)
First race	1992 Daikyo Indy Car Grand Prix (Surfers Paradise)
Last race	1995 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."

External links

• Éric Bachelart driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Eric Bachelart Biography