Mi-Jack Conquest trying to keep Ranger in the car

UPDATE The Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Team (MJCR) will be heading to Texas next week to dispute the second round of the Champ Car World Series on the streets of Houston with drivers Andrew Ranger and Charles Zwolsman. The Grand Prix of Houston, which takes place Saturday, May 13 on the 1.7-mile street course, will mark the second time that Champ Car has run a night race on a temporary circuit.

Canadian Andrew Ranger will be back behind the wheel of the #27 Tide/Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone car to participate in the first Houston race since 2001. After a sixth place finish in Long Beach, at the opening race of the season, Ranger wants to put in another strong performance.

“I’m happy to be back with the Conquest Racing Team for the Grand Prix of Houston. It’s a race that I’m really looking forward to because it will be the first time I take part in a night event on a street course. I saw the track layout when I was there last November for the unveiling and it looks like a very challenging track, it should be an exciting race for the fans as well as the drivers. Hopefully, we can put in another performance like in Long Beach and get a good result for the team."

04/19/06 According to this Journal de Montreal article, the Mi-Jack Conquest team is trying to keep Andrew Ranger in the car for Houston and beyond. The team tested Ryan Briscoe recently to see if their recent performance was driver related or car related. When Briscoe turned out to be slow and not able to work any miracles it confirmed for the team that their current drivers are OK and their cars are just not up to the pace of the frontrunners.

Ranger's manager, Alan Labrosse, is still looking for more sponsorship dollars, but the most telling story is that Briscoe continues to not live up to the promise he showed when he went to F1 to be a Toyota test driver so it does not sound like Eric Bachelart will replace Ranger with Briscoe.