Mike Conway was back on the podium at the latest round of the FIA World Endurance Championship with a third place finish in the 6 hours of the Circuit of the Americas. 

The #6 TS050 HYBRID of Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi finished third for their fourth podium of 2016, finishing just 26.096secs behind the winner after an exciting victory battle between all three LMP1 hybrid manufacturers.

With air temperatures hitting the mid-thirties for the majority of the race weekend, Mike felt that the team were hurt in qualifying as he came into traffic on his first lap when his tyres were at their best.

“We made it to fourth [in qualifying] which is a decent result. It was a pity I got traffic on my first flying lap because that really hurt us. With these track temperatures, the first lap was the key one but I was happy to get the time that I did with my second.”

Starting from the second row on the grid, Mike took the start in the #6 car and ran sixth during the opening stint before handing over to Kamui at the first pit stops. As the race progressed, the car was lapping very quickly and continuing to push the Porsches at the front of the field.

Conway duly took fourth place before dramas for the #8 Audi helped Kamui, who was now at the wheel, climb to third with just two hours of the race remaining. A three-way fight between three different manufacturers ensued but despite a fighting performance from Stéphane Sarrazin that saw the gap close in the last few laps, second was ultimately out of reach for the team.

Following the race, Conway was pleased with how the weekend had gone for the team, he said: “I’m very happy to be on the podium again, for the fourth time this season. Our car came alive halfway through the race when we had strong pace. It was nice to see the pace we could get out of the car today. Stéphane and Kamui did a great job and the mechanics as well were really good in such tough conditions.”

Images courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk