“It was a difficult situation,” he said. “I didn’t give up. I still bought a new car (the Dallara DW12) and worked with Andretti at Indy, so my desire is still there. I had some drivers that wanted to race at Fontana but couldn’t get an engine, and now I have been talking about running a car with another team, but that too has not happened, so at the end of the day, you have to decide what is best and which direction to take. I love open-wheel racing; it has been the love of my life, but it’s bizarre to be here saying I’m going to stop this right now. I have to face that.”

A return to IndyCar racing isn’t out of the question for Conquest, but for now, and with his open-wheel plans dashed for 2013, Bachelart is contemplating another season of sports car racing. What series or class Conquest Endurance will enter is the biggest question to answer.

“I really enjoyed sports cars last year,” he said. “But with the (ALMS and GRAND-AM) merger, P2 has kind of gone away. It was difficult to put together [a P2] program with no competition. Right now I’m looking at different opportunities to keep going in sports car, but don’t know exactly which way it will go.”

“My heart is still in IndyCar. I’ve been in racing for at least 30 years of my life. I want to do something I enjoy and have fun. The IndyCar program became a bit of a struggle—I don’t see the end of the tunnel, so I will stop for now. But it doesn’t mean I won’t come back.

"Once I know where the series is going and what the new leadership has to say, I will see about returning. I have a lot of passion about it, and want to return. I just can't say when that will be.”

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.