Mike Conway on Le Mans: "It's going to be a lot closer than last year"
The Royal Automobile Club played host to a special 24 Hour of Le Mans preview dinner on Tuesday night, where WEC drivers Mike Conway, Alex Brundle and Oliver Gavin were all in attendance.
Staged at the Royal Automobile Club in the heart of London, all three drivers gave attendees a fascinating insight into the preparation required for the WEC Super Finale, which is set to take place in just over two weeks’ time (15-16 June).
“I think we’ll see a lot more competition this year,” explained Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Mike Conway who drives the No. 7 LMP1 car alongside Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez.
“The privateers have had a long development programme so they will definitely be quicker and it’s going to be a lot closer than last year. Then there are the adjustments with the EoT [Equivalence of Technology] and, on top of that, it’s the Super Finale for WEC so there’s so much at stake which adds even more pressure.”
Alex Brundle, who will pilot the No. 32 Ligier with Ryan Cullen and Will Owen for Anglo-American team United Autosports in LMP2, echoed Conway’s comments regarding the level of competition expected at this year’s race.
“With 20 cars in LMP2, it can be difficult to find an advantage,” explained the 28-year old Briton, who learned about Le Mans at the knee of his father, 1990 winner Martin Brundle.
“Whatever you’re racing, it comes down to the same thing – the planning and execution. For Le Mans, it’s the small details that can make the difference between success and failure and these things are all magnified by the length of the race. Teams can learn from past errors, but the margins are crucial which means everything – including pit stops – need to be performed perfectly.”
Oliver Gavin will compete in the popular LMGTE Pro category with Corvette Racing at this year’s Le Mans (No. 64 Corvette C7.R with Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler), the fourth outing in the WEC for the super-successful American squad. Indeed, there will be no shortage of competition in this category either as they prepare to go head-to-head with several GTE manufacturers including Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW and Ford.
Conway, Brundle and Gavin will now travel to Le Mans in order to take part in the official 24 Hours of Le Mans test day which gets underway on Sunday (2 June).
