Mike Conway was back in action last weekend at Le Mans last weekend for the historic 24 hour race, and the Kent racer came away with a podium finish. 

It was a second place finish in the end for Conway and his Toyota team but for long periods it could have been so much more and that will be slightly disappointing for the race ace.

The legendary race got off to a great start as the #6 car, driven by Conway and team mates Stéphane Sarrazin and Kamui Kobayashi, took the lead for long periods of the race, with the #5 Toyota sister car and #2 Porsche close behind, continually fighting for position.

Prior to the late dramas, the #6 Toyota required a 30-second stop to repair minor bodywork damage, the legacy of contact with a lapped car, but despite this, after 20 hours of flat-out racing, the top three were covered by less than 30 seconds.

The #6 car dropped out of contention in the battle for second place due to a nine-minute pit stop for bodywork repairs, but returned to the track to run comfortably in third. Meanwhile the #5 Toyota sister car held off the rival Porsche until victory was snatched from its grasp as it suffered an unknown power loss within just a few kilometres of the chequered flag, leaving the #6 car to take second place.

The result was Toyota’s sixth Le Mans podium and its fifth second place finish in its 18 Le Mans starts since 1985.

Giving his thoughts after the race, Mike said: “I have mixed feelings. Second is okay but we are all gutted for car #5. They drove a great race and were controlling it. You could see how upset everyone was; I really feel for them. We were fighting up there all race at the front so it was a good race in terms of the performance of the car. It’s okay to get one car on the podium but we wanted more.”

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