Conquest Racing travels to Loudon

Sebastian Saavedra, Conquest Racing

Photo by: Adriano Manocchia

The IZOD IndyCar Series travels to New England this weekend for short track racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Conquest Racing driver Sebastian Saavedra will make his rookie appearance on the one-mile oval in the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225.

The young Colombian will not be the only newcomer to the circuit, however. Because Sunday’s race will be IndyCar’s first appearance at Loudon after a 13-year hiatus, none of the series’ current drivers have been on the track in an open-wheel race car.

Drivers get a good amount of time to learn the track on Thursday, with a 90-minute practice session at 9 a.m. and another three hour session at 1 p.m. before qualifying day Saturday.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s relatively flat course, long straights, and tight corners draw comparisons with the Milwaukee Mile, where Saavedra raced the No. 34 Conquest Racing Bogota es Mundial car in June.

Sebastian Saavedra, No. 34 Conquest Racing Bogota es Mundial Driver
“It’s going to be very interesting Thursday, the first time 99 percent of the drivers have been to Loudon, so hopefully that’s a situation we can take advantage of. We want to focus on coming up with a good car. From the information we have, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is very similar to Milwaukee, so we’re going to have a Milwaukee mentality here. The track is fairly flat with little banking, longer straights, and tighter turns than Milwaukee. So it’s a bit different, but we can prepare for what to expect. The main thing for practice is to consistently improve the car for qualifying Saturday."