British professional racing driver
Michael Robert Conway
(born 19 August 1983) is a British professional racing driver. He lives in
Sevenoaks
,
Kent
and is currently competing in the
FIA World Endurance Championship
with
Toyota Gazoo Racing
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Conway who was born in
Bromley
,
London
, attended
Sevenoaks Prep School
from 1986 to 1996.
Karting to F3
[
edit
]
Conway began racing in
karting
at the age of eight at
Rye House
in
Hertfordshire
. After that, he went on to be the Formula A British Karting Champion, then raced in
Formula Ford
with
Van Diemen
. He was the
Formula Renault UK
Champion in 2004 and then entered the
British F3 International Series
in 2005, with the same
Fortec Motorsport
team with which he had competed in Formula Renault UK.
In British F3, he was the highest placed rookie and finished 3rd behind
Alvaro Parente
and
Charlie Kimball
, as well as managing 13th in the
BP Ultimate Masters
at
Zandvoort
, having started 16t. At the
Macau Grand Prix
, Conway ended up fourth in both the qualifying and the qualifying race around the Circuito da Guia, before a problematic Grand Prix saw him retire with engine failure, but classified 14th.
Following that success he was signed by 2MB Sports Management run by former Grand Prix drivers
Martin Brundle
and
Mark Blundell
, and signed for the
Raikkonen Robertson Racing
team, owned by then
McLaren
driver
Kimi Raikkonen
and his race-manager
Steve Robertson
. In the 2006 season, Mike dominated the British F3 International Series, and clinched the title with three races remaining, as well as finishing first of the British F3 drivers in Race Two of the prestigious
Pau Grand Prix
, in France, a round of the
British F3 International Series
for 2006 - Romain Grosjean won the race. While at the
Macau Grand Prix
, after qualifying 11th, he finished 7th in the qualifying race, before becoming the first British driver to win the Grand Prix since
Darren Manning
in 1999.
Conway made his
GP2
debut at
Silverstone
in June 2006, when he replaced the injured
Olivier Pla
in a
DPR Direxiv
car. Having stalled at the start of race one, he battled to 11th place. In race two he also finished 11th.
Conway won the National Racing Driver of the Year Award at the 2006 McLaren
Autosport
Awards.
He then signed to drive a full season for
Super Nova Racing
in the
2007
GP2 Series
, taking a podium finish at
Silverstone
, and signed as a test driver with the
Honda Racing F1 Team
[1]
. He remained in the series for
2008
, having signed for the
Trident Racing
team,
[1]
after testing for several other teams
[2]
. At
Monaco
he took his first GP2 series win (and first 2008 podium) in the sprint race, earning pole position by finishing 8th in the feature race, in which he ran third before being hit by backmarker
Javier Villa
on the final lap
[3]
. At
Magny-Cours
he finished 8th in the feature race, but faded to finish 6th in a wet sprint race. He eventually finished 12th in the drivers' championship, an improvement of two positions on the previous year.
IndyCar
[
edit
]
During 2008, Conway was given an opportunity to test an IndyCar Series car at
Infineon Raceway
and surprised several series regulars by being top of the times during one session.
[2]
Conway signed with
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
to compete in the IndyCar Series full-time in
2009
.
On the final lap of the
2010 Indianapolis 500
, Conway was battling side by side with
Ryan Hunter-Reay
when the two cars became entangled as Hunter-Reay's
Dallara
ran low on fuel and stuttered between turns 3 and 4, resulting in Conway's Dallara-
Honda
being launched into the air. Conway suffered a broken leg during the crash and was flown straight to the
Methodist Hospital of Indianapolis
.
[3]
Conway also received a compression fracture of one of his
thoracic vertebrae
and was fitted with a back brace. The injuries effectively ended his participation in the rest of the 2010 Izod IndyCar Series season.
[4]
On 1 February 2011,
Andretti Autosport
announced that Conway had been signed to a full-time ride for the 2011 IndyCar season.
[5]
He won his first IndyCar race at Long Beach on 17 April 2011, but the remainder of the year was disappointing, as Conway only managed to score three more top-10 finishes and failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500; he finished 17th in the championship.
Conway moved to the
A. J. Foyt Enterprises
team for the
2012 season
.
[6]
He also made his racing return to the Indianapolis 500, having failed to qualify the year before. He qualified near the back but appeared to have a strong car coming up several positions during the race. On lap 79 Conway entered the pits during a scheduled green flag pit stop period. He made contact with one of his crew members damaging his front wing but not injuring the crew member. The damage went unnoticed by the crew who hurried up the pit stop to keep Conway in contention. A few laps later Conway lost control of his car spinning in front of
Will Power
and making contact with Power causing him to hit the inside wall. At the same time Conway's car turned around backwards and flew airborne into the fence topside first. Conway was uninjured in the incident, but due to damage he was unable to finish the race and was scored in 29th position. He later finished in third place in
Toronto
, his best result of the season.
In the week leading up to the
final race of the 2012 season
?held at the
Fontana
superspeedway?Conway informed the Foyt team that he no longer felt comfortable competing on oval tracks, and asked not to race. He was replaced by
Wade Cunningham
. Conway's decision stemmed from injuries after a crash at the
2010 Indianapolis 500
and the debate over IndyCar competing on oval tracks after the October 2011 death of
Dan Wheldon
.
[7]
In
2013
, Conway ran a one race deal with Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing at Long Beach finishing 25th with an electrical issue, then signed with Dale Coyne Racing for the doubleheader events of the year, winning his first race out at the Belle Isle Park Course. In
2014
he ran only the road courses and street circuits for
Ed Carpenter Racing
winning both the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as well as the Honda Indy Toronto Doubleheader.
[8]
Sports car racing
[
edit
]
In 2013, Conway decided to enter sports car racing to supplement his Indycar career. He became a full-time driver for
G-Drive Racing
in the
FIA World Endurance Championship
. Conway and co-drivers
John Martin
and
Roman Rusinov
were excluded from a 3rd-place finish at Le Mans in LMP2 but took four class wins in the season to finish 3rd in the LMP2 Drivers trophy.
In 2014, in addition to Indycar Conway joined
Toyota Racing
as a test and reserve driver in the
FIA World Endurance Championship
.
[9]
He raced in Austin, Bahrain and Sao Paulo, collecting a race win.
The Brit soon became a full-time driver at Toyota for the 2015 season, racing with
Stephane Sarrazin
and
Alexander Wurz
.
As of 2023 Conway has won the
FIA World Endurance Championship
twice, (
2019-20
,
2021
) and the
24 Hours of Le Mans
once in
2021
Formula E
[
edit
]
In July 2014 it was announced that Conway would race in
Formula E
with the
Dragon Racing
Team.
[10]
However, on 5 September, Conway announced he had left the team.
[11]
Racing record
[
edit
]
Career summary
[
edit
]
† ? As Conway was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
*
Season still in progress.
Complete GP2 Series results
[
edit
]
(
key
) (Races in
bold
indicate pole position) (Races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
Complete IndyCar Series results
[
edit
]
(
key
) (Races in
bold
indicate pole position. Races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
- 1
The
Las Vegas Indy 300
was abandoned after
Dan Wheldon
died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.
Years
|
Teams
|
Races
|
Poles
|
Wins
|
Podiums
(Non-win)
|
Top 10s
(Non-podium)
|
Indianapolis 500
wins
|
Championships
|
6
|
6
|
71
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
Indianapolis 500
[
edit
]
Complete V8 Supercar results
[
edit
]
† Not Eligible for points
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
[
edit
]
*
Season still in progress.
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
[
edit
]
Complete Formula E results
[
edit
]
(
key
) (Races in
bold
indicate pole position; races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
Complete European Le Mans Series results
[
edit
]
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
[
edit
]
*
Season still in progress.
Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Conway signs for Trident Racing"
. autosport.com. 20 December 2007
. Retrieved
20 December
2007
.
- ^
"Conway flies in Panther test"
. autosport.com. 16 August 2008
. Retrieved
3 September
2008
.
- ^
Beer, Matt (30 May 2010).
"Conway breaks leg in huge crash"
.
autosport.com
.
Haymarket Publications
. Retrieved
2 June
2010
.
- ^
Beer, Matt (1 June 2010).
"Conway sidelined for three months"
.
autosport.com
.
Haymarket Publications
. Retrieved
2 June
2010
.
- ^
"ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT SIGNS MIKE CONWAY TO FULLTIME INDYCAR DRIVE IN 2011"
.
andrettiautosport.com
. 1 February 2011. Archived from
the original
on 4 February 2011
. Retrieved
1 February
2011
.
- ^
"AJ Foyt Racing signs Mike Conwau"
.
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
(Press release). 21 December 2011.
Archived
from the original on 27 March 2024
. Retrieved
27 March
2024
– via Motorsport.com.
- ^
Mike Conway asks out of race
- ^
Lewandowski, Dave (15 November 2013).
"Conway joins Carpenter team for roads/streets"
.
IndyCar Series
.
IndyCar
. Retrieved
15 November
2013
.
- ^
Watkins, Gary.
"Conway joins Toyota in reserve role"
.
RACER.com
. Racer Media & marketing, Inc. Archived from
the original
on 2 December 2013
. Retrieved
10 December
2013
.
- ^
"IndyCar star Mike Conway joins Dragon Racing"
. Archived from
the original
on 24 November 2022
. Retrieved
2 July
2014
.
- ^
"Mike Conway leaves Formula E, Oriol Servia steps in at Dragon"
.
Autosport
. 5 September 2014
. Retrieved
31 October
2014
.
- ^
"Mike Conway ? 2009 IndyCar Series Results"
.
Racing-Reference
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC
. Retrieved
1 August
2023
.
- ^
"Mike Conway ? 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Results"
.
Racing-Reference
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC
. Retrieved
1 August
2023
.
- ^
"Mike Conway ? 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series Results"
.
Racing-Reference
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC
. Retrieved
1 August
2023
.
- ^
"Mike Conway ? 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Results"
.
Racing-Reference
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC
. Retrieved
1 August
2023
.
- ^
"Mike Conway ? 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series Results"
.
Racing-Reference
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC
. Retrieved
1 August
2023
.
- ^
"Mike Conway ? 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series Results"
.
Racing-Reference
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC
. Retrieved
1 August
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Mike Conway Results"
.
motorsportstats.com
. Retrieved
26 October
2023
.
External links
[
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IndyCar
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Former drivers
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