Martin Plowman, who ran well in three cameo appearances in IndyCar last year, has a full season ride for 2012 in the American Le Mans Series. The Englishman will run alongside David Heinemeier Hansson for Eric Bachelart's Conquest Endurance program in the team's Morgan-Judd LMP2 car.
Bachelart, the longtime IndyCar team owner, added the ALMS arm of his program after announcing a partnership to be the North American distributor for Oak Pescarolo, announced back in December. The Oak Pescarolo chassis has been badged a Morgan after being announced in January.
“Martin really impressed me in his three starts in the IZOD IndyCar Series last season, so I am very happy to have him join Conquest,” Bachelart said. “David's solid racing resume, combined with his off-track success, tells me he is a focused individual who will complement Martin in the cockpit.”
“I always have respected the way Eric and Conquest go racing in IndyCar, as he is one of the good guys in this sport,” Plowman said. “This is a great opportunity for me to drive a prototype in the ultra-competitive ALMS. I know that I have a lot to learn about endurance-style racing, but I am calm and ready for the challenge. I'm definitely going to make the most of it.”
Heinemeier Hansson is a Chicago native who's fairly large in the tech world, as the creator of the popular open-source Web development framework Ruby on Rails, a partner in the Web-based software development firm 37signals and co-author of the New York Times best-selling business book “Rework.” He made several ALMS and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup starts in 2011 for Lotus and Porsche GT programs, and steps up to the cost-capped, pro-am P2 class this year.
Conquest, which still plans at least a partial IndyCar program and has a chassis on hand in its Indianapolis shop, has not yet announced its intentions or engine supplier for that. The Indianapolis 500 occurs May 27, two weeks after the ALMS round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 12. Plowman would be a rookie at Indianapolis if an opportunity to drive there arises.