Reigning FIA World Endurance Champion, Mike Conway, is raring to go ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend - as the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR010 HYBRID makes its debut at the legendary race.
The showpiece event of the WEC championship, this year marks the 89th edition of the twice round-the-clock race and Mike can’t wait to get the weekend underway.
Returning for his eighth visit to Le Mans, Mike is gunning for victory alongside his #7 team mates Kamui Kobayashi and José María López.
Taking the wheel of the GR010 HYBRID, the trio will contest the Hypercar categories first appearance at Le Mans and will battle for victory with the sister #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing machine, the Glickenhaus team‘s duo of entries and the #36 Alpine.
The 8.467-mile Circuit de la Sarthe is one of the most demanding circuits on the planet. With 38 corners, drivers require a razor-sharp focus to extract maximum performance from their machines. With 85% of the lap spent at full throttle, car management and strategy also become vitally important.
Racing flat-out for 24 hours, through the sheer darkness of night with 60 fellow cars, the challenge of Le Mans is unlike any other and makes success here all the more rewarding.
Luck can also play its part in the race with Mike and the #7 close to victory in 2019 - only for their charge to the win to be cruelly dashed by a puncture in the final hour of the race.
Preparing for this year’s race, Mike will use his past experience as motivation and is fired up for the challenge ahead.
“All the hard work during the year is for this race so I can't wait to get in the car and drive,” Mike said. “Le Mans is a sprint race nowadays; we have to race as hard as we can for the complete 24 hours and control the race where possible. We know from experience that there are many factors which can come into play, and we've been unlucky in the past on the #7 car. But that doesn't change how we approach Le Mans as drivers. We will get our heads down and do all the preparation to be ready for the race, as we did in the past few years. Then we hope Le Mans is kind to us and we can finally get the win.”
The action gets underway on Wednesday with the first Free Practice session at 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) followed by Qualifying at 19:00 (18:00) and a second Free Practice session at 22:00 (21:00) - offering the team their first taste of night driving.
Thursday begins with a third Free Practice at 14:00 (13:00). Later on, the all-important Hyperpole session will set the final starting order for the race at 21:00 (20:00) followed by a further Free Practice session at 22:00 (21:00).
After a break in track action on Friday, Saturday marks race day with a short 15-minute Warm Up at 11:30 (10:30) before the green flag for the race flies at 16:00 (15:00) on Saturday afternoon, running uninterrupted through to Sunday.
Viewers can watch the race in its entirety live on Eurosport or through the official FIA WEC website.
