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Heylen Quickest in Conquest Cameo; Monk ‘Optimistic’ with Switch to Triars
February 11, 2025
Staff Report IMSA Wire Service
SEBRING, Fla. – 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 minutes, 1.737 seconds (110.598 mph) to top a field of 20 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GTD PRO class cars in the first day of three total days of on-track testing on Sebring’s venerable 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.
“This was a little bit of a last-minute call,” Heylen said. “Eric’s other drivers are out racing on the other side of the globe, so he called me. We’ve got a relationship that goes long back, and I’m just super happy to be here.”
The strong performance on Tuesday was a bright spot for Heylen, who is dealing with the loss of his home in the Tampa Bay area to Hurricane Milton last fall.
“Myself and my family, we had a rough few months here with losing the house and all of that in the storm, and then being pregnant with twins, so I kind of lost the opportunity to be in this paddock,” Heylen said. “That hurts. It hurts not being on the grid, but I’m really grateful to be here and we obviously had a good day.”
It was a very good day for Heylen, who posted the quickest time in each of the day’s two testing sessions.
“The car was running good,” he said. “I think we made some good progress throughout the day and hopefully set the team up for success in a few weeks.”
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 (110.307 mph) in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3, followed by Scott Andrews in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 at 2:02.098 (110.271 mph) 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 (109.615 mph) 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 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) classes will have the track to themselves on Thursday.
Monk, JG Wentworth “Optimistic” with Switch to Triarsi Ferrari
Entering her third IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season but having been part of the IMSA community even longer through various additional series, Sheena Monk reflected that she now is “part of the furniture” of the IMSA paddock.
With the entrenched presence comes a renewed focus for improvement as she embarks on a switch to Triarsi Competizione, where she shares the striking green, white and black No. 021 JG Wentworth Ferrari 296 GT3 in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) with full-season co-driver Stevan McAleer and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup third driver Mike Skeen.
Both McAleer and Skeen have won IMSA championships earlier in their careers. Monk’s most frequently enjoyed success at Road America, where she won her first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class race in 2020 and secured her first WeatherTech Championship podium with McAleer last year, finishing third in GTD in what was the final IMSA podium for the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.
The Rolex 24 At Daytona didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts in her new environment, with contact from another GTD competitor and a drive-time infringement costing a potential top-five class finish in the first run for this group with Triarsi and Ferrari.
But as Monk reflected during Tuesday’s sanctioned test at Sebring International Raceway, the switch to Triarsi has her beaming with optimism for the rest of the year.
“It’s the most professional operation I’ve been part of so far, which is refreshing, and it’s something I can build on,” Monk explained. “Post-Daytona, we’re coming to grips with the car. This is our second time testing at Sebring now, so we’re getting a sense of the car’s capabilities.
“I’m super optimistic. I’m driving a proper machine at this point. The team has a ton of great personnel under the tent. I have two of the best drivers in GT paddock alongside me. So how do I improve myself to be closer and not be the weak link, especially when we get to the sprint races? I will have to be better in qualifying and I’m going to have stay in the mix in the pack. Ultimately, my job is to keep the car clean and give us something to fight with.”
Triarsi’s shift to a two-car operation, as the No. 021 car joins the No. 023 under the Orlando-area based team’s tent, has created as many new learning opportunities as it has added to the overall strength of the operation.
“It’s interesting … I think having two cars brings some new and unique challenges,” Monk said. “I wouldn’t say it’s double the workload for the team, but there’s new situations we’re learning.
“Say for instance with pit stops, we have two boxes back-to-back. Either someone is going to have to go around pulling in or leaving their box, so you push back sometimes. It’s new challenges. I think everyone is finding their rhythm with things like that.”
Goals? Monk is keen on adding one more classic 24-hour endurance race to her résumé and achieving strong results in IMSA’s perpetually deep GTD field.
“Le Mans,” she laughed. “But I have a couple goals in IMSA. Some are lofty. It’s funny to say I’ve been here, where I’ve been part of the furniture, learning every day on track, and it can simultaneously get frustrating. I drive with people who’ve been racing since they were single-digit number of years old … and I haven’t.
“For me, my goal is to finish in the top three in the championship. That might sound lofty as a Bronze, but if everyone does their job, it’s possible. For this year I’d love to win the (Bob Akin) Bronze Cup and take this Ferrari to Le Mans.”
