Mike Conway heads to Shanghai, China, to contest the penultimate round of the 2017 World Endurance Championship – the 6 Hours of Shanghai.

Located 40km from central Shanghai, the Shanghai International Circuit features a combination of long straights and a variety of corners, from very slow hairpins at the beginning and end of the lap, to faster, sweeping corners in the middle sector.

Mike’s previous visits to the Chinese circuit have seen him finishes on the podium twice from three visits, including victory in 2014 when he first raced in the WEC with G-Drive Racing in the LMP2 category. TOYOTA has won twice in its five previous visits to Shanghai, during its first WEC season in 2012 and then as part of its World Championship-winning 2014 campaign, while last season saw the TS050 HYBRIDs earn a strong double podium finish.

TOYOTA, mathematically, still have a shot at the manufacturers’ standings but will need to overcome a 58.5-point deficit to Porsche in the final two races of the season.

Mike, from Sevenoaks, and the team head to China in a positive mood after a well-earned one-two finish in their home race at Fuji Speedway earlier this month but Mike still remains hungry to find his first victory of the season.

“I like Shanghai as a circuit and I am looking forward to getting back on track. The track lay-out demands a lot from our cars and tyres so hopefully we can get everything dialled in; that will be our target in the practice sessions. There are two races left in the 2017 season which means two opportunities to get our first win in the #7.”

With a strong history at the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit, the team’s target is to build on the Fuji success and fight for victory not only in China, but also in Bahrain for the season finale on 18th November. Hisatake Murata, TOYOTA Team President, wants to see the team fighting for race wins as the season draws ever closer to its conclusion.

“The whole team is pushing hard for this race. With Porsche leaving LMP1 at the end of the season, there are only two races remaining for us to test ourselves against such a strong competitor. So far in 2017, we have won three races but Porsche has won four; even if it is now very difficult to challenge for the World Championship, our target is to win more races. We also want to give the WEC fans another exciting battle between TOYOTA and Porsche in Shanghai. I am looking forward to it.”

 

Round Eight – Shanghai (BST)

Friday

FP1: 03:00 – 04:30
FP2: 07:30 – 09:00

Saturday

FP3: 02:00 – 03:00
LMP1 Qualifying: 06:30 – 06:50

Sunday

Race: 03:00 – 09:00