ELMS: Conway gets outing with TDS Racing

Toyota World Endurance Championship driver Mike Conway will make a return to the LMP2 ranks in the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard later this month with TDS Racing.

The 32-year-old Briton will stand in at the French squad for Toyota development driver Ryo Hirakawa, who will be driving in the clashing Suzuka 1000Km Super GT round with the TOM'S Lexus team on August 28.

Conway, who made his move to sportscars in LMP2 with the Delta/ADR-run G-Drive WEC squad in 2013, will race alongside team regulars Mathias Beche and Pierre Thiriet in the TDS ORECA-Nissan 05 at Ricard.

A spokesman for Toyota told Autosport: "This was a clash we always knew about, so we knew we would have to replace Ryo for Ricard.

"We offered it to Mike because of his recent LMP2 experience, and he jumped at the chance."

IDEC TO MAKE ELMS RETURN

The French IDEC team is returning to the ELMS at Ricard with its Ligier-Judd JSP2 after missing last month's Red Bull Ring round, bringing the P2 entry back to 11 cars.

The Anglo-Irish Murphy Prototypes team has yet to announce drivers for its ORECA-Nissan 03R.

Team owner Greg Murphy confirmed that the squad would be present at Ricard and that he was "still negotiating with drivers."

The team has opted against giving a debut to its new Ave-Riley AR2 LMP3 contender, which is still undergoing development ahead of its homologation.

Originally on Autosport.com