Mike Conway is enjoying being back in the Verizon IndyCar Series on a regular basis this season and it is showing in his driving.

This season the Sevenoaks race ace has won the Long Beach Grand Prix and has been well placed on a number of occasions as well this season.

Kent Sports News caught up with Mike whilst he was at the Le Mans 24 hour race in his role as test driver for Toyota to get his thoughts on the season so far.

He said: “It has been ok so far, obviously we had a good win at Long Beach, and I think we have a pretty good car on the street course but we have a lot of work to do on the road course set-up.

“It was good to get a win in and Ed has got his win as well, the team are working hard and doing a good job and that has been proved with the results, I think everyone is pretty happy.”

In the first race of the season Mike was on course for a podium finish before a mix up with a radio call and the safety car left him down the field as he explains.

“I didn’t get the radio call to come in and then there was nothing about the safety car waving me by and there was nothing on the radio with that one either.

“I was driving a bit blind out there but it was ok, we could have had a podium I think. We have a good start thought and we need to keep that up and the next few courses should be good for us with Houston, Mid-Ohio and Toronto they are some of my favourite ones. So hopefully we can get back to good results gain.”

In the upcoming races with them being some of Mike’s favourite circuits to race on he is very much targeting finishes on the podium.

He added: “We have to at least be targeting a podium finish and we could have had one in the last month but things just didn’t work out for us in race two in Detroit. The car is good and the pace is there so there is no reason why we can’t be up there.”

Looking back at Detroit a bold strategy call had Conway right up there and in the lead for a period of the race, but ultimately left him down the field at the end.

“We just didn’t have any new red tyres left and with it being a double header round you only get so many sets of tyres. In a normal race weekend you will get through a few sets in qualifying and have a couple left for the race.

“In the first race we ended up using a few sets and few more for qualifying for the Sunday race so it is difficult with the tyres and Detroit is one of those places where the red tyres get pretty beaten up.

“It could have worked out for us in the first race but I made a mistake and clipped the wall and that was the end of our races. Then in the second race we had the lead but with the middle stint being on reds and with them wearing so fast, when I locked up the front tyre once it was just impossible not to do it again.

“It did hurt us being on that strategy and we didn’t get as many safety car periods as we thought we would, we were the only ones on that strategy. I think when you start up front, I think maybe you should go with what the majority think and I think we had the pace to stay there and it was a hard call to make.”

Mike is enjoying being back in IndyCar racing the street and road circuits for Ed Carpenter racing and not just racing in the odd race here and there.

He said: “It is great to have all the road and street courses and the sports car stuff in between, I am really enjoying it to be honest.

“It is great being back in IndyCar full time and whenever I go there, everyone says welcome back, even if I have only missed the odd weekend here and there. It is nice being back in the paddock in a series that I have been involved with for around five years now. I have a lot of friends there and it is a great series to be part of.”

Obviously we caught up with Mike over the Le Mans weekend and it was odd for him not to be racing having been part of the action the year before.

He added: “It has been different, and I do wish I was in the car. It is good to be here with Toyota and I have learnt a lot from the guys, they are all really fast drivers. Le Mans is the one that everyone wants to win and the whole season comes down to this race.”