Manor Motorsport

Historical overview

Throughout its history, the team primarily competed in Formula Renault, with past drivers including 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, 7 times Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton and other Formula One drivers such as Antônio Pizzonia. In 1994 James Matthews set a record 11 race wins in a season that lasted more than 20 years, on his way to winning both the British and European series for Manor.

They entered Formula Three in 1999, winning successive British titles with Marc Hynes and Pizzonia.

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.

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.

Partnership with MP Motorsport

Main article: MP Motorsport

From 2012 until 2015, Manor Competition 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. 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. Richard Bradley, Roberto Merhi and Matt Rao were signed to drive the car.

Formula One

Virgin Racing (2010–11)

Main article: Virgin Racing

On 12 June 2009, it was announced Manor's application to participate in the 2010 Formula One season had been accepted. 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. This design approach was abandoned in 2011 when the team forged a technical partnership with McLaren.

Marussia F1/Manor Marussia (2012–15)

Main article: Marussia F1

The Formula One team was renamed the Marussia F1 Team after Marussia Motors bought a controlling interest in the team. 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 . The team suffered a major blow at the , 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 , 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. 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.

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. This was possible thanks to businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick buying the team, with Justin King joining as chairman.

Booth and Lowdon left the Formula One team at the end of the 2015 season. The team continued to race for one more season, under the name of Manor Racing, albeit independently of Manor Motorsport.

Driver accidents

Two of the Manor team's drivers have sustained fatal head injuries. In July 2012, test driver María de Villota crashed heavily into a team transporter during straight line aerodynamic tests. 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.

In October 2014, race driver Jules Bianchi suffered severe brain injuries while competing in the . He succumbed to his injuries in July 2015 after remaining hospitalised and in a coma since the accident. 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 failing to complete the prior season to the point-scoring and prize-winning performance of Bianchi at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. In Bianchi's honour, from the 2014 Russian Grand Prix until the end of their F1 participation, the team cars carried a "JB17" logo, which represent Bianchi's initials and race number.

Results

Formula One

F3 Euroseries

GP3 Series

In detail

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

World Endurance Championship

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Timeline

Notes

References

References

1. "Manor – History". Manor Motorsport.
2. DiZinno, Tony. (1 December 2015). "Is there a new adventure for Lowdon, Booth? @RealManor Twitter launches today". [[NBC Sports]].
3. (19 February 2000). "Pizzonia flies in Snetterton test". [[Haymarket Media Group.
4. (24 September 2000). "Pizzonia's title, Monteiro's race". Crash Media Group.
5. "FIA – Marussia team". [[Formula One Group.
6. DiZinno, Tony. (5 February 2016). "Manor Confirms WEC Entry with Oreca 05 Nissan". John Dagys Media, LLC.
7. (30 March 2016). "Ex-Manor F1 driver Roberto Merhi joins reborn team in WEC LMP2". [[Haymarket Media Group.
8. Dagys, John. (27 March 2016). "Manor Takes Delivery of Second Oreca 05 Nissan". John Dagys Media, LLC.
9. (25 May 2014). "Jules Bianchi says Marussia's first F1 points not luck". [[Haymarket Media Group.
10. (27 October 2014). "Marussia F1 team goes into administration". BBC News.
11. Esler, William. (4 February 2015). "Marussia's administrators say the team will exit administration on February 19". [[Sky (United Kingdom).
12. (5 March 2015). "Manor Marussia aim to be ready for start of F1 season". BBC.
13. (5 October 2014). "Maledizione Marussia: il tragico filo che unisce la de Villota e Bianchi". Il portale di Ticino.
14. (4 July 2012). "F1 test driver De Villota loses eye after accident". [[TF1 Group]].
15. (11 October 2013). "Hallan el cuerpo sin vida de María de Villota en un hotel de Sevilla". Catalina Luca de Tena, [[Grupo Vocento]].
16. Smith, Luke. (5 October 2014). "Bianchi suffers severe head injuries at Suzuka, requiring surgery". [[NBC Sports]].
17. DiZinno, Tony. (17 July 2015). "Jules Bianchi dies at age 25, his family confirms". [[NBC Sports]].
18. (19 March 2015). "Booth: Bianchi made Manor return possible". GP Update.
19. Walker, Kate. (21 May 2015). "How Jules Bianchi saved an F1 team". Motorsport.com, Inc..
20. (18 May 2015). "Booth anticipating 'tough' Monaco weekend". GP Update.
21. [https://www.speedsport-magazine.com/motorsport/formula-level3/formula-3-euroseries.html F3 Euroseries complete results] ''speedsportmag.com''
22. (27 October 2017). "CEFC Manor TRS Racing: the people behind the name". [[Automobile Club de l'Ouest]].
23. Kilbey, Stephen. (1 November 2017). "TRS & Manor To Join LMP1 Ranks For 'Super Season'".
24. Watkins, Gary. (10 September 2018). "Manor no longer involved with Ginetta LMP1 team in WEC". [[Motorsport Network]].
25. Dagys, John. (18 June 2018). "No. 67 Ford Loses Fourth in GTE-Pro Due to Drive Time Infraction". Sportscar365.