Conquest double efforts

Australian financial services group Opes Prime ltd have signed a two-year deal to back the team, which had spent much of last season running on a shoestring budget.

"I'm thrilled to welcome Opes Prime as partners with Conquest Racing," said team boss Eric Bachelart.

"Although we have fielded competitive entries the last five years in Champ Car with good results, the addition of Opes Prime and [company boss] Anthony Blumberg offers us the opportunity to solidify our base of operations and plan for the growth required not just to compete, but to win."

French driver Philippe - who is based on Australia's Gold Coast - returned to the team on a one-off basis for the Surfers Paradise event last year, a race at which Opes Prime backed Conquest. He is known to be high on their list of targets.

The team, however, insist that they will only pick their drivers for the coming season after the official tests in the first two months of the year.

Conquest ran just one car in 2007, with Matt Halliday, Jan Heylen and Philippe all racing.