How Mike Conway is aiming to recapture the magic in WEC

Autocar caught up with GR010 driver Mike Conway during a break from testing at Circuit Paul Ricard, before the two-day WEC Prologue at Spa that ran this week ahead of the race. The 37-year-old from Kent was crowned world champion last year with team-mates Kamui Kobayashi and José María López and will once again face genuine (and, to Toyota’s credit, unimpeded) opposition from the sister car of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley. Conway says he’s “excited” about the new era but can’t hide his regret that the car he will now race is heavily dialled down from the technical marvel that was the TS050.

“It’s still a prototype, still a sports car and still loads of fun to drive,” he says. “As you say, everything is dialled down: the downforce, the power, especially from the hybrid side… it’s quite a bit down. But we have more power now from the combustion engine. It’s not quite as quick – we’ll be slower – but that was the target from [organiser] the ACO and the FIA to make a car that’s more budget-friendly and will work across different championships. They’ve achieved what they set out to do.

“As a driver, you always want to go faster and develop a quicker car. It’s definitely different for us, but that’s racing. You see it in Formula 1: they get to a peak where it’s superquick and then the cars get slowed down. As the years go by, we’ll find a way to go quicker with this car, like we always do.”

If his enthusiasm sounds a little constrained, it’s easy to understand why. Compared with the TS050, the GR010 has 32% less power and its lap time around the 8.4-mile Le Mans circuit is expected to be about 10 seconds slower. The TS050 had hybrid systems working across both axles; the LMH features a single front motor-generator, delivering 268bhp of electric power that maintains an element of four-wheel drive over speeds of 75mph. Combined with its larger 3.5-litre petrol V6, maximum power output is 670bhp, compared with the near 1000bhp of the TS050, which was 162kg lighter, too. Clearly it’s a massive change, but it had to happen. LMP1 costs had spiralled and inevitably led to its demise.

On the plus side, Toyota’s drivers no longer need to worry about ‘lift and coast’ to save fuel. “We were flat out anyway; it was just that the engine was cutting when it wanted to, to save consumption,” Conway points out. “There was a technique to it, but I do like the way that we don’t have to worry about saving fuel so much and can drive the car a bit differently. I hope the racing should be good, with the BoP system as well. If they get that right, I hope we’ll see what you get in GT racing: it being really challenging and lots of fun.”

Toyota will at least be better prepared for Spa than Porsche was for the Silverstone 6 Hours back in 1982, when the 956 made its race debut just six weeks after its first shakedown. Since last autumn, the GR010 has run five tests for a total of 14 days at Paul Ricard, Portimão and Motorland Aragón, always with a single car. All but the roll-out were endurance runs as simulations for Le Mans, although the team did lose one test, scheduled for Aragón in January, due to snow.

“We’ve got quite a few miles on the car, the amount a team wants with a new car,” confirms Conway. “You always want more, but time and budget all add up. But we’ve done a decent amount at different tracks, offering different challenges.