After experiencing the intense pressure of the Month of May in the lead up to the Indianapolis 500, you might have expected Conway to be unfazed when he made his debut at La Sarthe last year. But as he admits, that was far from the case.
“Le Mans was very tough!” he grins. “Indy was a whole different challenge, the Month of May was a constant build-up so every day you feel a bit more tension. It’s constant pressure around that place. You can get bumped out of the field and not make it and I was on the wrong end of that one year in 2011. It’s hard to describe, there’s no other feeling like that.
"But going back to Le Mans, it’s the sheer length of the race that gets you. After the first few stints, you’re thinking ‘it’s not too bad’, but when you start to get to the early hours of the morning and you want to sleep, I couldn’t. It was hard for me to switch off because I wanted to watch the monitors all the time and see what was going on. You feel terrible out of the car, but in the car is when you’re at your best, so you never want to get out!”
Looking forwards, it is unclear whether Conway will get to race the Toyota Hybrid this year and if so, whether that will be in place of his LMP2 programme with Millennium (nee Delta-ADR), which kicks off at Spa after the team were forced to withdraw from Silverstone. But until that time comes, Conway is simply enjoying being a cog in the factory machine, particularly considering Toyota’s lofty position atop the standings after a 1-2 finish in the Silverstone season opener.
“We’re yet to discuss it really, ideally I’d love to be able to both like I’ve been able to do this year, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s happening. But I’ve really enjoyed working with these boys at Toyota, it’s a lot of fun and the car is just awesome, you factor all the development, new technologies, it’s really cool to be a part of. It produces a lot of downforce, it stops really well and it’s got big fat tyres on it, so in the slow speed corners it’s really impressive as well.
“If I’m needed I’ll be ready.”
Credit: Mike Conway