Mike Conway has announced that he will retire from full-time professional motorsport when the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship ends, with the British Toyota driver still involved in a title fight entering the final two rounds. The 43-year-old is expected to race at Barcelona and Monza before ending a full-time career that has brought him two overall Le Mans 24 Hours victories and two world drivers’ championships.
Conway said his decision had not been easy, but he indicated that winning Le Mans for a second time in June had made the timing feel right. He said he wanted to focus on family life after more than two decades in the sport, while stressing his gratitude to the people who had supported his career.
The announcement leaves Conway with two immediate priorities rather than a ceremonial finish. Alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in Toyota’s #7 crew, he is 10 points behind the lead of the drivers’ standings with two races remaining. A championship recovery would add another major result to a season already defined by Toyota’s Le Mans success.
Two final races in a live title contest
Specialist outlet DailySportscar reported that Conway will compete in the forthcoming WEC rounds at Barcelona and Monza. FIA WEC said his final Toyota outing will be the 6 Hours of Monza in Italy, scheduled for 6-8 November, and described it as his 94th appearance for the manufacturer.
That remaining programme is significant because Conway, Kobayashi and de Vries have not been detached from the championship battle. FIA WEC said the trio are 10 points adrift with two rounds left. The position is especially notable in light of the late hydraulic problem that affected their car near the end of the Circuit of the Americas race last month, when FIA WEC said they had been close to victory.
The arithmetic underlines the scale of the opportunity still available: with two rounds remaining, the #7 crew need to overturn a 10-point gap rather than merely protect a farewell-season advantage. The evidence does not establish what points total would be required for the title, but it does show that Conway’s final full-time appearances will have a direct bearing on the drivers’ contest.
Conway’s two Le Mans wins also frame his decision. His first came in 2021 with Kobayashi and José María López, according to DailySportscar, while his second arrived in the 94th running of the event this June. Conway told FIA WEC that the most recent victory had played a substantial part in convincing him to close this chapter of his career.
A Toyota career built over 12 seasons
Conway moved into endurance racing in 2013 after competing in single-seaters and IndyCar. FIA WEC said he won four of eight races in LMP2 with G-Drive Racing in his first season in the discipline, a campaign that placed him third in the standings and helped him secure a Toyota opportunity for the following year.
His initial Toyota programme included a top-class victory in Bahrain alongside Alexander Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin. FIA WEC said Conway then became a core member of the Japanese manufacturer’s endurance effort, while DailySportscar reported that his Toyota spell has covered LMP1 and Hypercar machinery.
Across his WEC career, DailySportscar credited Conway with 20 overall race wins, 51 overall and class podiums, two drivers’ championships and two overall Le Mans victories. FIA WEC said he won his world titles in 2019-20 and 2021, and also finished in the top three of the drivers’ table on four other occasions.
His 20 overall wins can be read as one early top-class Toyota success followed by 19 more, based on FIA WEC’s account. That tally helps explain the weight of his departure: the championship described him as the most successful British driver in its history, while Toyota team principal and long-time team-mate Kobayashi said Conway had combined speed and consistency with a strong contribution to the team environment.
DailySportscar reported that Toyota had not yet named Conway’s replacement for 2027. For now, the confirmed picture is narrower: Barcelona and Monza offer two more chances to alter the 2026 title race before one of Britain’s most decorated endurance racers steps away from full-time competition.