Top-5 start for Conquest Racing

Conquest Racing took their Champ Car DP01 out today for the first time during day one of the two-day open test at the MSR Houston track. The new car performed flawlessly allowing Nelson Philippe, who is testing with the team, to place himself fifth on the combined time sheet.

The team completed their initial shakedown of the car in the morning session and continued to discover the new DP01 in the afternoon session once the rain stopped. Philippe ended both sessions in fifth place.

“I’m very, very excited with my first day of testing with Conquest Racing. It was definitely a very productive day. Keeping in mind that the team was not in Sebring, ending up where we did today is a good start," expressed a cheerful Philippe. “We will continue working on the setups tomorrow and hopefully it will stay dry. I’m very happy for the guys, we had no problems and they did an excellent job. I look forward to continuing our work tomorrow."

Team owner Eric Bachelart couldn’t be happier with the outcome of this initial test. “I must say that I am surprised with how things went. You never know with a new car but we had no problems and everything went well. Nelson also did a great job. Hopefully, tomorrow the conditions will be dry and we can continue working on the car in those type of conditions."

The teams will return to the track tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern for the final day of the open test.