Tags in for Bernoldi

[garyshell]

Bernoldi has a lot of pain on the bumpy circuit at Belle Isle after his injury last week in Sonoma so Conquest Racing is bringing in Tags!

Gary

[Nikki Katz]

Hasn't he missed almost all of the practice though? And it's not like he's used to the car. He's not really likely to be on the pace this weekend, I hope this doesn't count against him for the future.

[nigelred5]

Agreed, but still good to see Tags back in an openwheeler.

[cos]

He's been allowed to drive in both groups for this morning's practice which shoudl help.

[TeamTracy26]

Not to knock Tag, but was PT not available? Seems the better choice would have been PT who now has experience in this car at this Track, and to add finished 4th at Edm. Was it a Contract Issue or too short notice for PT?

[drewdawg727]

Nah, Tony George told Tracy that he is not welcome in a car for the rest of the season because of his stellar performance at Edm.

[Cart750hp]

What's going on with Conquest?

Cutting people, cutting cars, a miracle phone call, rent-a-ride...... now ends up with Tags. I started to ignore this team since they were still in CC. No wonder this team couldn't land a good sponsor due to all these mess. Who cares who they put in the car now. They never be a front runner team anyway with the way they run the team.

Good to see Tags in a one-race-deal. Tracy? This guy is not done with IndyCar but IndyCar is done with him.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

What's going on with Conquest?

Cutting people, cutting cars, a miracle phone call, rent-a-ride...... now ends up with Tags. I started to ignore this team since they were still in CC. No wonder this team couldn't land a good sponsor due to all these mess. Who cares who they put in the car now. They never be a front runner team anyway with the way they run the team.

Good to see Tags in a one-race-deal. Tracy? This guy is not done with IndyCar but IndyCar is done with him.

I am not aware of Conquest cutting people or cutting cars. I don't know about a mysterious phone call either. Tag was called to replace an injured driver, how mysterious is that?

Conquest was actually looking forward to a breakout year when their sponsor Opes Prime was forced to withdrew back in April. They had to fire Franck Perera and run Bernoldi and Camara to please their only remaning sponsor, Sangari.

The problem is that they are both inexperienced. The following is from speedtv.com.

“I am convinced Enrique would be very fast if we gave him a fast car,” said Conquest team owner Eric Bachelart. “But with the lack of testing and also an inexperienced teammate (Camara) we haven’t been able to make much progress with the car this year. We are 16 races into the season and we still don’t know the car very well, but Alex immediately gave us a lot of feedback. In fact, we probably learned as much in practice this morning as we have the rest of the season.”

[indycool]

Know Bernoldi is hurt now, but before that, he was a zero in this series as an ex-F1 driver. I've read a couple of his quotes where he stiffly reminded people that he drove F1. Fine. I have sympathy that he's hurt now. I have no sympathy for him indicating to people he's down in class, particularly when he's running at the back.

[BrentJackson]

Hopefully Tag gets the permanent seat and Bernoldi goes back to Brazilian touring cars. He was a hack in F1, most famous because he held up the square-head (Coulthard) for 25 laps at Monaco.

We won't miss ya, Enrique, especially since Tags is a far better development driver.

[BobGarage]

Hopefully Tag gets the permanent seat and Bernoldi goes back to Brazilian touring cars. He was a hack in F1, most famous because he held up the square-head (Coulthard) for 25 laps at Monaco.

We won't miss ya, Enrique, especially since Tags is a far better development driver.

if conquest are going to get rid of one of their drivers for tags I hope its camara as he is utterly useless!

[BrentJackson]

^ To be really honest, they both *****.

If they need a Brazilian, get AGR to loan them Raphael Matos. Problem solved.

[BobGarage]

^ To be really honest, they both *****.

If they need a Brazilian, get AGR to loan them Raphael Matos. Problem solved.

can't argue with that. the experience would do rafa good, hope AGR can see that too!

[BrentJackson]

can't argue with that. the experience would do rafa good, hope AGR can see that too!

Part of my theory. When Kanaan retires, Matos will have had a couple seasons to get himself used to the cars, and hits the ground running. Conquest gets a couple years with one of the best young OW talents on the planet teamed with a veteran who is famous for his ability to set up a vehicle.

[bblocker68]

Put Rafa in the car along with Perrara and you'd have a great combination.

[fugariracing]

Put Rafa in the car along with Perrara and you'd have a great combination.

Those two should be in full time - heck if Rafa wins Lights this weekend he'll have won FIL, Atlantic and Star Mazda titles three of last four years. And if that doesn't deserve a call-up than nothing does.

Sadly, since FP got dumped earlier this year when the sponsor went kaput, chances are Conquest drivers will be those w/deep pockets. Always has been, always will be...

[garyshell]

Tag's ride has been extended for the final two races!

From CrashNet:

Having been called into the Conquest Racing team for the Belle Isle event, Alex Tagliani has now been confirmed in the seat of the #36 car for the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway this coming weekend.

Tagliani will once again replace Enrique Bernoldi who has failed to recover from his ligament and will require further rest before he is ready to return to racing. As well as the final round of the season, Tagliani will also be with the team for the non-championship event at Surfers Paradise as the teams look to make the most of his previous experience of racing on the Gold Coast.

“Unfortunately Enrique's injury is not healing as fast as we thought and would've liked, and with Alex doing such a great job last weekend it was an easy decision to keep him in the car for Joliet,” team owner Eric Bachelart said. “We also elected to keep Alex for Australia since he has so much experience at that track. We've been looking for strong results all year and we saw what he was able to do in Detroit.

“Bringing Alex to a track he knows at Surfers and with more time behind the wheel, I think we will be able to fight for a win and end the season on a high note.”
Tagliani will be making his first outing at Chicago and will be racing on an oval for the first time since 2005. However the 35-year-old said he was relishing the opportunity to extend his relationship with the team.

“I'm honoured that Conquest has called on me again this weekend to drive for them,” he said. “It was such a satisfying feeling to be working with such a professional group of guys last weekend. We came in at the last minute and made so much progress in so little time. We had a top five car on race day and that is proof just how good these guys are.

“As for this weekend, it's been a while since I have done ovals but I'm not worried about getting back into it. Once again I want to help the team as much as possible. I can't wait.”


Hurrah!!!

Gary

[Dr. Krogshöj]

“Unfortunately Enrique's injury is not healing as fast as we thought and would've liked"

Yeah, we can imagine.

[indycool]

Sure can.