Tile at Toyota right on the eve of the 24h of Le Mans: Mike Conway injured himself in a fall during bike training and will not be able to be in action in the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Briton went out on Thursday to ride around a bit, before starting media activities between Pesage and the test day on Sunday 9 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Unfortunately he suffered fractures to his ribs and collarbone in the crash and, although the injury is not serious, he will not be able to join Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck De Vries on the GR010 Hybrid #7.
“TGR shares Mike's disappointment with this situation and will continue to support him on his journey back to full fitness. He has been part of the TGR family since 2014 and everyone on the team looks forward to seeing him back in the cockpit soon,” explains the note issued by the Japanese team.
“Mike will immediately begin an intensive rehabilitation programme, under the supervision of TGR's medical staff, with the aim of returning to racing in the FIA WEC as soon as possible.”
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Taking Conway's place will be José María López, who had been in the crew with him and Kobayashi until last year, and knows Le Mans very well having won it together in 2021.
“Pechito” should have been in the race with the #87 Lexus of the Akkodis-ASP Team, which however gave the Argentine the green light and will now look for a replacement at the last minute to join Takeshi Kimura and Esteban Masson.
Ritomo Miyata, Toyota's reserve driver for the Hypercar program, is instead engaged in the LMP2 Class on the Oreca #37 of Cool Racing together with Lorenzo Fluxa and Malthe Jakobsen.
Conway's is the second withdrawal due to injury just a few days before the 24h of Le Mans. Last week it was Doriane Pin who raised the white flag at the Iron Dames, replaced by Rahel Frey.