Mike Conway and his TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will finally resume the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign after a six-month hiatus, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and will resume this weekend with the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Mike and the team last competed back in February in Austin, with the following race at Sebring in March cancelled due to the worldwide circumstances. The scheduled races at Spa in April and Le Mans in June were postponed, with a new race in Bahrain added to replace Sebring.
Three months later than planned, the 6 Hours of Spa will take place on Saturday 15 August without spectators. Mike and his #7 TS050 HYBRID crew of Kamui Kobayashi and José María López lead the championship by only five points from the sister #8 car heading into the final three races of the season, having recorded three wins, five podiums and a pole position.
Despite the enforced calendar changes, Spa remains the warm-up race for the Le Mans 24 Hours, adding additional importance to next week’s event, when the low-downforce-specification TS050 HYBRID will be used for the first time this season.
Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #7): “Our #7 crew has been so strong at Spa over the last few years but we’ve never managed to win the race due to factors beyond our control. So as well as Le Mans, this is a race I really want to win and we will give it our all. It’s an important race as well for our Le Mans preparations so we need to build on the work done at Paul Ricard by getting the most out of our low-downforce package.”
Track action begins next Thursday evening with a single 90-minute practice session. Second and third practice will take place the following day prior to qualifying in the evening, when the 31-car grid will be decided. The race starts at 1.30pm (local time) on Saturday 15 August.
