INDYCAR: Bachelart Closing In On Second Car

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Bachelart Closing In On Second Car

British Indy Lights driver Pippa Mann could join the series full-time as soon as Round 2 if the funding comes through this week.

Marshall Pruett | Posted March 25, 2011 St. Petersburg, FL

Pippa Mann scored the pole at Indy for the Freedom 100 and won at Kentucky in 2010. (LAT)

Conquest Racing team owner Eric Bachelart worked throughout the off-season to add a second full-time entry for 2011 to his stables, and while he’ll have just one car for Colombian rookie Sebastian Saavedra this weekend at St. Petersburg, the team could double in size as early as Round 2 at Barber Motorsports Park.

Bachelart, the 1991 Firestone Indy Lights champion, hopes to continue his trend of introducing Indy Lights graduates to the IZOD IndyCar Series if the funding for England’s Pippa Mann can be finalized.

Initial plans called for Mann to share the No. 36 Conquest Dallara-Honda, with the 27-year-old taking the controls on ovals, but according to Bachelart, negotiations have widened to possibly include the remaining 16 races on the calendar.

“Yes, there were some ongoing discussions about sharing the car. The other scenario is it’s still possible that we have a driver that could do the whole season. I'm waiting to hear something before the end of the week so, basically, I’ll know any time now. So there's still two scenarios that are ongoing.”

While Bachelart was hesitant to declare Mann as the only driver he’s in negotiations with at the moment, her presence under the Conquest Racing this weekend is telling.

“Yeah, we're still talking to Pippa and she will be with us all weekend [in St. Petersburg]. So there's still some stuff going on we have to finish, but hopefully, we'll come up with a second program pretty soon."

Provided the sponsorship dollars materialize in the next few days, Bachelart says the No. 36 would be on the grid for the April 10th race at Barber Motorsports Park.

“The car is ready. We just need to put an engine in it but the car is ready. So, yeah, we could easily be ready for Barber. We’d need to do a test before. But we can be ready for that. We've been working well together [with Pippa], so we've developed a nice, nice relationship together. I hope we can do something together.”