Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, in the pole position-winning #7 GR010 HYBRID, were on course for victory at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo until a long pit stop for a technical issue dropped them back down the order. However, a stunning fight back through the field delivered a fourth place finish.
After Kamui Kobayashi secured pole position for the #7 team on Saturday, to make an all-Toyota front-row, Mike made a clean getaway at the start of the race and began building a cushion over the chasing pack.
Mike took care to preserve his medium compound tyres in hot temperatures on the abrasive Interlagos track surface and plotted a safe course through the traffic. In the opening hour, Mike had built an 11-second advantage over the #8 Toyota, but suffered its first blow when a drive-through penalty for a full course yellow infringement wiped out Mike’s advantage.
Remaining in the fight for the win, Mike and the #7 team suffered a more significant issue early in the third hour when repairs were needed on a control unit and Mike's teammate Nyck de Vries resumed in 18th.
Nyck’s battling performance brought the #7 back into the fight for points and Kamui took the wheel for the final two stints. The #7’s determined fight back continued until the flag and Kamui hunted down the #51 Ferrari in the closing laps, forcing his way past for fourth place inside the last five minutes.
After a productive visit to South America, Mike now sits 7th in the Drivers' World Championship standings - with his #7 teammates occupying 3rd. Mike's campaign resumes at the beginning of September as the series moves to North America for the next race, when the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas hosts the Lone Star Le Mans on 1 September.
Mike Conway:
“We had such a strong car all day. I made a mistake with the FCY, just over-speeding slightly, but we managed to get back into the lead anyway. We had really good tyre wear at that point and thought we were looking good. But at the end of my stint, we started to notice the issue. The team tried to fix it and we lost time, so we went all the way to the back. Kamui and Nyck drove well to get us back up to fourth. We couldn’t do any better in terms of a recovery, but we still feel like this one got away from us.”
