FRUSTRATING INDYCAR WEEKEND IN MID-OHIO FOR MIKE CONWAY
6 Aug 2012
British racing driver Mike Conway endured a frustrating race weekend in Mid-Ohio for the latest round of the IZOD Indycar Series.
Conway and the AJ Foyt Team had been one of the quickest at the collective test that had taken place at theMid-Ohio road course one week previously, so they headed into Saturday's qualifying session confident of a strong result.
However, despite running the same set up that had produced the strong lap times during the test, when qualifying came around Conway's car lacked overall grip. The team worked hard throughout the session making changes to the car's set up but were unable to find a set up that allowed the tyres to work to their optimum before the session ended, and as a result Conway was only able to set the 17th fastest time. Conway was later promoted to 16th spot following a 10-spot grid penalty for Castroneves.
Conway made another strong start to the race on Sunday afternoon and by lap two was already up to P12. However, Conway's strong pace was compromised when he received an order over the radio to be more aggressive in saving fuel. Despite his best attempts to conserve fuel, when Conway pitted on lap 27 from P9, the data showed that the team would have to change onto a three stop strategy because the car wouldn't make it to the end of the race on just two fuel stops.
Conway rejoined the track in P14 but the AJ Foyt driver was struggling for grip on the primary tyres and losing ground to the leaders, so the team brought him in for his second pitstop of the afternoon on lap 37.
Conway came back out in P21 and once everyone had made their second pitstop of the afternoon was running up in P12. However, Conway still had one more pitstop to make on lap 61. Unfortunately a problem in the final stop cost Conway an extra 28 seconds in the pits and he fell down the running order to P22. Conway crossed the finish line in P21.
"It was a really tough race. Our original plan was a standard two-stop race but we wouldn't have made it to the end without a yellow so we came in early and changed to a three stop. The pace of the race was good, I drove hard all the way through the race but lost too much trackposition with the extra stop;" commented Mike Conway.
The IZOD IndyCar Series heads to Sonoma Raceway on August 26th for the next round of the Championship.
