Alex Tagliani will become an IndyCar Series owner/driver in 2010. Tagliani, whose Conquest Racing entry was headed for Victory Lane at Toronto last month until a full-course caution fell badly with the team's pit stop strategy, has found a Canadian investor, enabling him to purchase all of ex-IndyCar driver Marty Roth's equipment which includes four race cars and one show car.
Rob Edwards, who has been team manager and race engineer at Walker Racing, and who worked with Derrick for 16 years, will become team manager for Tagliani's team. Jim Freudenberg, former general manager for Kelley Racing, will handle the commercial side of the team.
Brandon Fry, Conquest Racing's race engineer who built up a strong rapport with Tagliani over the past 10 months, has been linked with a move to the new squad, but last week admitted he hadn't decided on his plans for 2010. Fry also worked with Edwards at Walker Racing.
The team will be confirmed on Friday 28 August in Chicago, during the IndyCar Series race weekend, with the sponsorship package being announced in Montreal at a later date – possibly at the Auto Show next February.
At Edmonton this year, Tagliani's final race with Conquest, he was willing only to say that he was expecting to run just one car, for himself, for “multiple seasons” while looking to help bring a young Canadian driver through the open-wheel ranks to eventually replace him. However, he did confess that running an additional entry for the Indy 500 was a possibility.