Mike Conway turning 30

Mike Conway

Mike Conway will celebrate his 30th birthday on Monday with a sense of satisfaction. It wasn’t an easy decision at the end of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season to pull out of the oval race finale, but since then he hasn’t looked back.

This year has seen him find the podium no matter what he’s driving! Conway currently races full time in Europe in the World Endurance Championship for Delta-ADR in the LMP2 class. Experiencing the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time this year, Conway and his teammates were able to qualify on the front row and then finish the race on podium in their class.

He is also competing in select IndyCar races, and it was at Belle Isle in June that heads started turning. Conway jumped into the Dale Coyne Racing car and qualified third for Race 1 (started second after engine penalties had been given). Once the green flag was shown, took the lead and never looked back, leading 47 of 70 laps and earning his second IndyCar career victory. Earlier that day, he won his first IndyCar pole for Race 2, which was also the first for Dale Coyne Racing and went on to finish third in that race, becoming the only driver to finish on the podium in both races.

Conway went on to have his first ALMS experience in July. Driving for Level 5 Motorsports in the LMP2 class, he replaced the injured Ryan Briscoe. Having never driven at Mosport before, Conway posted the fastest lap in practice for the P2 category, and then went on to capture pole for his class. He dominated the race until having to relinquish the wheel to his teammate with an hour to go, but still secured his first ALMS podium (third in the P2 category).

“I am pretty happy with my driving so far this year," said Conway. “In the races I have done with WEC, IndyCar and ALMS, I’ve been quick everywhere and have had poles and podiums. I should have had more results in the WEC with so many races led, but third at Le Mans 24 Hours was pretty cool. I still have a few more races to go in that series and I’m yet to win so looking forward to that happening soon. Unfortunately I just have one more IndyCar race left this season, which is Houston in October, but can’t wait for that to come around, have missed not being in the series full time. I think the rest of the year is going to be exciting, as for next year….who knows?"

The next race for Conway will be with the WEC at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in Brazil on September 1st.