Manor Motorsport

Manor Motorsport

Founded	1990
Team principal(s)	John Booth (Team Principal) Graeme Lowdon (President & Sporting Director)
Current series	FIA World Endurance Championship
Former series	Formula One GP3 Series Formula 3 Euro Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup British F3 Auto GP
Drivers' Championships	Formula Renault UK: 1999: Antônio Pizzonia 2000: Kimi Räikkönen 2003: Lewis Hamilton 2005: Oliver Jarvis Formula Renault UK Winter Series: 1999: Kimi Räikkönen 2006: Franck Mailleux British F3: 1999: Marc Hynes 2000: Antônio Pizzonia
Website	manorwec.com

Manor Motorsport Ltd, currently trading as Manor Endurance Racing Ltd is a British motor racing company that was formed in 1990 by former single-seater champion John Booth.^[1] Manor has participated as a team in many different motorsport disciplines since its inception, including Formula One.

Its current sole involvement in motor racing is an entry to compete in the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.

The Formula One team currently known as Manor Racing no longer has any association with Manor Motorsport, following John Booth and his partner Graeme Lowdon's resignation from the Formula One project at the end of the 2015 season.^[2]

Historical overview

Throughout its history, the team primarily competed in Formula Renault, with past drivers including 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, 2008, 2014 and 2015 Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton and other Formula One drivers such as Antônio Pizzonia. They entered Formula Three in 1999,^[1] winning successive British titles with Marc Hynes and Pizzonia.^[3][4]

In 2007, Manor Motorsport saw a change of ownership when Formula Renault UK team manager, Tony Shaw, bought out John Booth and continued operating under the name of Manor Competition from a completely separate base. In turn, John Booth retained the Manor Motorsport name and continued to race in the Formula 3 Euro Series until 2009.

From 2010 to 2015, Manor Motorsport participated in the Formula One World Championship under many guises.^[5]

Manor also had a GP3 Series team from 2010 until 2014, run under the name of "Marussia Manor Racing" with the exception of the 2010 season.

On 5 February 2016, Manor Motorsport announced its entry into the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.^[6]

Partnership with MP Motorsport

From 2012 until 2015, Manor competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championships in partnership with MP Motorsport. As well as this, the two teams combined forces in Auto GP in 2012 and 2013.

World Endurance Championship

For its participation in the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, Manor are using two Oreca 05 chassis powered by Nissan engines, racing in the LMP2 class. The No. 44 car – driven by Tor Graves, James Jakes and Will Stevens – was entered for the full season.^[7] The No. 45 car was entered on a one-off basis for every race except for Le Mans, as the car was entered too late to gain entry.^[8] Richard Bradley, Roberto Merhi and Matt Rao were signed to drive the car.^[7]

Formula One

Virgin Racing (2010–11)

Jérôme d'Ambrosio driving the Virgin VR-01 during the first free practice session at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix.

On 12 June 2009, it was announced Manor's application to participate in the 2010 Formula One season had been accepted.^[1] Their Formula One team was registered as Manor Grand Prix although it raced as Virgin Racing for sponsorship reasons. Powered by Cosworth engine, the team distinguished itself for designing its cars only digitally.^[5] This design approach was abandoned in 2011 when the team forged a technical partnership with McLaren.^[5]

Marussia F1/Manor Marussia (2012–15)

Charles Pic driving the Marussia MR01 during qualifying for the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Formula One team was renamed the Marussia F1 Team after Marussia Motors bought a controlling interest in the team.^[5] In 2014, coinciding with the team's switch of engine supplier from Cosworth to Ferrari, the team scored its first ever World Championship points thanks to the exploits of their leading Ferrari-sponsored driver, Jules Bianchi, during the Monaco Grand Prix.^[9] The team suffered a major blow at the Japanese Grand Prix, when Bianchi was involved in a serious crash and remained in a coma before succumbing to his head injuries in July 2015. At the following race, the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, Marussia fielded only one car out of respect for Bianchi but also as a result of mounting financial pressure, which then saw the team enter administration alongside its rival, Caterham.^[10] Marussia would take no further part in the 2014 season. It risked losing its 2014 prize money unless able to further compete in the sport the following year.

Roberto Merhi driving the Marussia MR03B at the 2015 Russian Grand Prix.

On 19 February 2015, Manor Motorsport's administrators announced that the team had come out of administration and planned to enter the 2015 Formula One season under the name Manor Marussia F1 Team with John Booth and Graeme Lowdon continuing to run the team.^[11] This was possible thanks to businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick buying the team, with Justin King joining as chairman.^[12]

Booth and Lowdon left the Formula One team at the end of the 2015 season. The team continues to race, under the name of Manor Racing, albeit independently of Manor Motorsport.^[2]

Driver accidents

The Manor team has had the misfortune of seeing two of its drivers sustain fatal head injuries.^[13]

In July 2012, test driver María de Villota crashed heavily into a team transporter during straight line aerodynamic tests.^[14] Among other things, she suffered the loss of her right eye but recovered sufficiently to become a motorsport safety advocate and get married. In October 2013, however, she died following a heart attack believed to have been caused by her underlying brain injuries.^[15]

In October 2014, race driver Jules Bianchi suffered severe brain injuries while competing in the Japanese Grand Prix.^[16] He succumbed to his injuries in July 2015 after remaining hospitalised and in a coma since the accident.^[17] Bianchi had made a significant contribution to the team as recognised by team principal, John Booth who, immediately following the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, attributed the team's 2015 return after a failing to complete the prior season, to the point-scoring and prize-winning performance of Bianchi at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix.^[18][19] In Bianchi's honour, since the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, the team cars have carried a "JB17" logo,^[20] which represent Bianchi's initials and race number.

Results

Formula One

Year	Name	Car	Engine	Tyres	No.	Drivers	Points	WCC
Virgin
2010	Virgin Racing	VR-01	Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8	B	24. 25.	Timo Glock Lucas di Grassi	0	12th
2011	Marussia Virgin Racing	MVR-02	Cosworth CA2011 2.4 V8	P	24. 25.	Timo Glock Jérôme d'Ambrosio	0	12th
Marussia
2012	Marussia F1 Team	MR01	Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8	P	24. 25.	Timo Glock Charles Pic	0	11th
2013	Marussia F1 Team	MR02	Cosworth CA2013 2.4 V8	P	22. 23.	Jules Bianchi Max Chilton	0	10th
2014	Marussia F1 Team	MR03	Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t	P	4. 17. 42.	Max Chilton Jules Bianchi Alexander Rossi	2	9th
2015	Manor Marussia F1 Team	MR03B	Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t	P	28. 53. 98.	Will Stevens Alexander Rossi Roberto Merhi	0	10th

F3 Euroseries

Formula 3 Euro Series results[21]
Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.Laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2004	Dallara F304-Mercedes HWA	Charles Zwolsman	20	0	0	0	9	16th	5th
		Lewis Hamilton	20	1	1	0	68	5th
2005	Dallara F305-Mercedes-HWA	Lucas di Grassi	20	1	1	0	68	3rd	4th
		Paul di Resta	20	0	0	0	32	10th
2006	Dallara F305-Mercedes	Kohei Hirate	20	1	0	0	61	3rd	2nd
		Esteban Guerrieri	20	2	2	0	58	4th
		Kazuki Nakajima	20	1	0	0	36	7th
2007	Dallara F305-Mercedes	Franck Mailleux	20	1	0	4	38	7th	2nd
		James Jakes	20	1	0	0	42	5th
		Cyndie Allemann	20	0	0	0	0	N/A
		Yelmer Buurman	20	0	0	0	40	6th
2008	Dallara F308-Mercedes	Koudai Tsukakoshi	20	0	0	0	36	7th	5th
		Sam Bird	20	0	0	0	23	11th
		Niall Breen	16	0	0	0	8	16th
		Kazuya Oshima	20	1	0	0	7	19th
2009	Dallara F308-Mercedes	César Ramos	16	0	0	0	0	25th	4th
		Pedro Nunes	20	0	0	0	0	27th
		Roberto Merhi	20	0	0	0	42	7th

GP3 Series

Year	Car	Entrant	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2010	Dallara-Renault	Manor Racing	James Jakes	12	0	0	0	21	8th	4th
			Adrien Tambay	4	1	0	0	6	20th
			Rio Haryanto	16	1	0	0	27	5th
			Adrian Quaife-Hobbs	16	0	0	0	10	15th
2011	Dallara-Renault	Marussia Manor Racing	Adrian Quaife-Hobbs	16	1	2	2	36	5th	3rd
			Rio Haryanto	16	2	0	1	31	7th
			Matias Laine	16	0	0	0	0	31st
2012	Dallara-Renault	Marussia Manor Racing	Tio Ellinas	16	1	0	3	97	8th	5th
			Fabiano Machado	16	0	0	0	0	21st
			Dmitry Suranovich	16	0	0	0	0	23rd
2013	Dallara-AER	Marussia Manor Racing	Tio Ellinas	16	2	1	1	116	4th	5th
			Ryan Cullen	16	0	0	0	0	29th
			Dino Zamparelli	16	0	0	0	13	18th
2014	Dallara-AER	Marussia Manor Racing	Patrick Kujala[nb 1]	18	0	0	0	22	14th	6th
			Ryan Cullen[nb 2]	16	0	0	0	0	25th
			Dean Stoneman[nb 3]	18	5	1	2	163	2nd

1. Kujala joined Trident Racing for the last two weekends of the 2014 season. At that point he had collected 22 points with Marussia Manor Racing.
2. Cullen joined Trident Racing for the last round of the 2014 season.
3. Stoneman joined Koiranen GP for the last two weekends of the 2014 season. At that point he had collected 95 points with Marussia Manor Racing.

Timeline

Current series
FIA World Endurance Championship	2016
Former series
British Formula Renault Championship	1990–2011
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	1991–2003, 2010, 2012–2015
British Formula 3 Championship	1999–2003
Formula 3 Euro Series	2004–2009
GP3 Series	2010–2014
Formula One	2010–2015
Auto GP	2012–2013
Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup	2012–2015

References

1. "Manor – History". Manor F1 Team. Manor Motorsport. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
2. DiZinno, Tony (1 December 2015). "Is there a new adventure for Lowdon, Booth? @RealManor Twitter launches today". MotorSportsTalk. NBC Sports. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
3. "Pizzonia flies in Snetterton test". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 19 February 2000. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
4. "Pizzonia's title, Monteiro's race". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 24 September 2000. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
5. "FIA – Marussia team". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
6. DiZinno, Tony (5 February 2016). "Manor Confirms WEC Entry with Oreca 05 Nissan". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
7. "Ex-Manor F1 driver Roberto Merhi joins reborn team in WEC LMP2". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
8. Dagys, John (27 March 2016). "Manor Takes Delivery of Second Oreca 05 Nissan". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
9. Straw, Edd; Noble, Jonathan (25 May 2014). "Jules Bianchi says Marussia's first F1 points not luck". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
10. "Marussia F1 team goes into administration". BBC News. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
11. Esler, William (4 February 2015). "Marussia's administrators say the team will exit administration on February 19". Sky Sports. BSkyB. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
12. Benson, Andrew (5 March 2015). "Manor Marussia aim to be ready for start of F1 season". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
13. "Maledizione Marussia: il tragico filo che unisce la de Villota e Bianchi" [Marussia curse: the tragic thread that links de Villota and Bianchi] (in Italian). Il portale di Ticino. 5 October 2014.
14. "F1 test driver De Villota loses eye after accident". Yahoo! Eurosport. TF1 Group. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
15. "Hallan el cuerpo sin vida de María de Villota en un hotel de Sevilla". ABC. Catalina Luca de Tena, Grupo Vocento. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
16. Smith, Luke (5 October 2014). "Bianchi suffers severe head injuries at Suzuka, requiring surgery". MotorSportsTalk. NBC Sports. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
17. DiZinno, Tony (17 July 2015). "Jules Bianchi dies at age 25, his family confirms". NBC Sports. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
18. "Booth: Bianchi made Manor return possible". GP Update. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
19. Walker, Kate (21 May 2015). "How Jules Bianchi saved an F1 team". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com, Inc. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
20. "Booth anticipating 'tough' Monaco weekend". GP Update. 18 May 2015.
21. F3 Euroseries complete results speedsportmag.com

External links

• Official website