What an absolute run it has been. Mike Conway has officially announced that he is bringing down the curtain on his full-time professional motorsport career at the end of the current FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, closing the book on an incredible journey where he achieved everything he could ever have dreamed of.
Before conquering endurance racing, the British star climbed the single-seater ladder with real style. He clinched crowns in Formula Renault UK and British Formula 3, triumphed at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix, and even tested for Honda Racing F1 Team in 2007 and 2008 before heading across the Atlantic to secure four race wins in North America's IndyCar Series.
He has been an incredible team-mate, not only in terms of speed and consistency, but on a human level as well,
In 2013, he traded open-wheel machines for sports cars, diving into the FIA WEC’s LMP2 category with G-Drive Racing. Four victories from eight rounds delivered third in the standings right out of the gate as a rookie. That immediate speed caught the eye of Toyota, and as the Japanese automotive giant joined the top-tier grid the following season, Conway was there. A part-time programme yielded a breakthrough triumph in Bahrain alongside Alexander Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin.
He has been a pillar of Toyota’s lineup ever since, adding 19 more wins to that initial Sakhir success. The most recent came at the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in June, marking the 43-year-old’s second outright victory in the legendary twice-round-the-clock contest. And as he admits, that result played a massive part in his decision to step away.
"Deciding to step back from full-time racing wasn’t easy, but after winning Le Mans for a second time this year, it felt like the right moment to close this chapter and focus on my family," Conway reflected. "To bow out with two Le Mans wins, two world titles and as the most successful British driver in the championship’s history is something of which I’m incredibly proud."
Those two world championship crowns came in 2019-20 and 2021, backed up by four additional top-three finishes in the overall Drivers’ table and seven Manufacturers’ trophies for Toyota. Right now, alongside team-mates Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, he is still fighting for another title in the #7 car. They sit just ten points adrift of the summit with two rounds remaining, and would likely be leading the classification were it not for a heartbreaking late-race hydraulic issue at COTA last month.
"He has been an incredible team-mate, not only in terms of speed and consistency, but on a human level as well," Team Principal Kobayashi said, paying tribute. Conway’s final appearance for the team — his 94th in total for Toyota — will take place at the 6 Hours of Monza in Italy on 6-8 November. What a machine, and what a career.
