Heylen Quickest in Opening Day of Sebring Test for Conquest

There wasn’t any trophy or prize money on the line in IMSA-sanctioned testing at Sebring International Raceway on Tuesday, but that didn’t stop Jan Heylen from making the most of his time in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

The Belgian topped the time charts with a best lap of 2:01.737 to lead a field of 20 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD ad GTD Pro class cars in the first day of three total days of on-track testing on Sebring’s 3.74-mile circuit.

Heylen and Jaden Conwright – the inaugural recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship in 2022 – were brought in last minute to share the No. 34 Ferrari with the team’s full-season drivers – Manny Franco and Daniel Serra – unavailable for this test.

Heylen’s relationship with Conquest Racing and team owner Eric Bachelart dates back to 2007, when he drove for the team in the Champ Car World Series.

Heylen and Conwright are just in the car for this test, with Franco, Serra and the team’s to-be-confirmed third driver slated to return for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring next month.

Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and Giacomo Altoe filled out the team’s lineup in last month’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona where they finished 11th in the GTD class.

Maxi Goetz posted the second-fastest time of the day at 2:02.059 in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, followed by Scott Andrews in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG at 2:02.098  as GTD cars held down the top seven positions on the combined time chart.

Aaron Telitz was quickest of the GTD Pro runners, clocking a best time of 2:02.829 in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3.

Testing resumes Wednesday with all four WeatherTech Championship classes on track for three sessions – including one under the cover of darkness to close out the day’s activities. The GTP and LMP2 classes will have the track to themselves on Thursday.

RESULTS: Test Session 1/Test Session 2