Mike Conway further underlined his driving credentials when he secured a podium finish on his debut in the American Le Mans Series.

Conway was replacing the injured Ryan Briscoe at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario and it didn’t show that he had virtually no track time or experience of the series to prepare for the race.

He posted the fastest lap in in the P2 class during free practice before taking pole position in his class for the race on Sunday afternoon.

It couldn’t have been going any better for Conway who led for the vast majority of the race as well, battling with Guy Cosmo for most of the race. With an hour to go he came in and handed over to Scott Tucker, but the team boss couldn’t maintain the pace and lead towards the end of the race and they finished a very respectable third.

Speaking about how the weekend went for him, Mike said: “I’m very happy with how the weekend has turned out. Despite jumping into the car for the first time on Friday and having never driven the track, it was amazing to then lead all but one of the practice sessions.

“The car was fast every time and to come away with the pole on my first career attempt is a pretty nice feeling. I thought we could have been even quicker to be honest. I had fun in the race today, managed to move up an overall spot at the beginning and then had a good little battle towards the end of my stint with the Extreme Speed guys, but still maintained the lead for the P2 class.

“My whole weekend has been a great experience and I need to thank Scott (Tucker) and David (Stone) again for taking a chance and giving me this opportunity and also the whole team for giving me such a great car.”