Strong drive through the field from P20 to P8 for Mike Conway at Edmonton

25 Jul 2011

British IndyCar driver Mike Conway recorded an eighth place finish and a further twenty four Championship points at yesterday's race at Edmonton.

The Andretti Autosport driver endured a tricky qualifying session on Saturday; suffering from a lack temperature in the tyres which resulted in insufficient grip throughout the session.

Conway lined up his @followAndretti car in P20 on the grid for Sunday's race. Conway made a good start making up a few places into the first few corners but then dropped back down through the field again in turn five.

A full course caution was brought out at the end of lap one as a result of an accident, which elevated Conway to P17. At the restart Conway dropped a few places to P20 but immediately began fighting back through the field and by the time he made his first pit stop on lap 22 was back up to P17.

Conway rejoined the field in P22 and almost immediately there was a second full course caution of the day. When the pit lane opened, the rest of the field pitted. The team's decision to bring Conway in for an early stop had paid off as he was now leading the race.

On lap 29 the race went green. In turn five Conway was pushed wide and forced to go onto the grass which lost him a number of positions. A lap later Conway served a drive through penalty for an earlier incident in the race which dropped him down to P19.

Conway then began to work his way back through the pack again. By lap 42 he was up to P14 and seven laps later he was running in P11. On lap 51 he set his fastest lap of the race and made up another position.

Lap 52 saw Conway pit for his second stop of the afternoon. A swift stop by the Andretti Autosport team meant he fed out in P14 and was able to remain on the lead lap.

By lap 55 Conway was up to P11 and moving up through the field in the closing stages of the race. On lap 65 he overtook Tagliani for P10 and eleven laps later overtook Patrick for P9.

On the penultimate lap Conway made up one final place to P8 as Briscoe was forced to make a splash and dash pit stop for fuel.

"It's always tricky starting that far back down in the field so we're quite pleased with a P8 finish considering the problems we had in qualifying. After the first pit stop I had good pace on the red tyres and was able to pass a lot of people and work my way up through the field. The combination of being forced to run onto the grass on lap 29 and taking my drive through penalty meant I had it all to do again in the second part of the race but the car was handling well and I was able to push hard and put in a series of really quick laps;" commented Mike Conway.

"It's good to be coming away with another 24 Championship points and now the focus is the next race in Mid Ohio where we will be hoping that things go more to plan in qualifying and we can come away with some more points;" continued Conway.

Mike Conway heads to Mid Ohio on 7th August for round twelve of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series.