Conquest Racing team owner Eric Bachelart loved the time he spent campaigning a prototype in the American Le Mans Series, and tells RACER he’s closing in on a new sports car program that would be focused on sprint racing.

“We had a great time worked with sports cars in the past and we’re working on a GT program in World Challenge and we like it because the budget is cost-effective,” said Bachelart, who fielded a Morgan-Nissan P2 car in 2012 and has been linked to a German marque in PWC.

“We’re in discussion with a manufacturer and we really want to be a part of the series. There’s a lot of new cars coming up in 2016, so being in World Challenge in 2015 is the right approach and hopefully we can develop there. Starting with something in 2015 is the right way to go, and if everything works like I hope it will work, it would give us good options for many years after.”

Conquest has been on a hiatus of sorts since its ALMS program concluded. Bachelart worked with Andretti Autosport to field a fifth entry at the Indy 500 in 2013, and has handled the logistics involved with testing the new Dallara IL15-AER Indy Lights car, but his team has been out the full-time racing game for two seasons. As Bachelart shares, the chance to step away from the daily grind for a little while has helped to rekindle some of the passion that was missing.

“Honestly, it was something I needed very much, and it gave me the opportunity to do other things and look at what I wanted to do next in the sport,” he noted. “I have some other things I’m working on in racing at the moment, and I’m very happy to be back and developing new programs for my team. World Challenge is an important part of where I want to go right now.”