Manor Motorsport Ltd, currently trading as Manor Endurance Racing Ltd is a British

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

company that was formed in 1990 by former single-seater champion John Booth. Manor has participated as a team in many motorsport disciplines since its inception, including

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

. Its current sole involvement in motor racing is an entry to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship since 2016. The Formula One team most recently known as

Manor Racing Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT or Pertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The team originally started racing in 2010 ...

cut its links 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.

Historical overview

Throughout its history, the team primarily competed in Formula Renault, with past drivers including 2007

World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, 7 times

World Champion

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...

and other Formula One drivers such as

Antônio Pizzonia Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born 11 September 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. Born in Manaus, he started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junior ...

. 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 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

in 1999, winning successive

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

until 2009. From 2010 to 2015, Manor Motorsport participated in the

World Championship under many guises. Manor also had a

GP3 Series The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and th ...

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 The 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the fifth edition of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). Th ...

Partnership with MP Motorsport

From 2012 until 2015, Manor Competition competed in the

Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup The Formula Renault Northern European Cup (formerly Formula Renault 2.0 NEC) was a Formula Renault, Formula Renault 2.0 championship originally held in Northern Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Belgium), but has expanded over the years to the whol ...

and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championships in partnership with

MP Motorsport MP Motorsport (previously Marcel Peters Motorsport) is a Dutch auto racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team has also participated in Auto GP, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern Europea ...

. As well as this, the two teams combined forces in

Auto GP Auto GP, sometimes referred to as the Auto GP World Series and formerly known as both Euro Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000, was a European formula racing series. The series' roots can be traced back to 1999 and the Italian Formula 3000 serie ...

in 2012 and 2013.

World Endurance Championship

For its participation in the

, 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 James Jakes (born 4 August 1987 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is a British racing driver. Career T-Cars Jakes started his racing career in 2002 competing in 5 rounds of the T-Car Championship. In 2003 James continued in T-cars, finishing 2nd ...

and

Will Stevens William Stevens (born 28 June 1991) is a British racing driver, who formerly competed in Formula One, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Toyota Racing Series and the British Formula Renault Championships. In Formula One, he made his debut at the 20 ...

– 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 Roberto Merhi Muntan (born 22 March 1991), is a Spanish auto racing, racing driver who drove in Formula One for the Marussia F1, Manor Marussia F1 Team during the 2015 season. Merhi has also raced in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for Pons Racin ...

and Matt Rao were signed to drive the car.

Formula One

Virgin Racing (2010–11)

Jerome d'Ambrosio 2010 Japan 1st Free Practice 1

On 12 June 2009, it was announced Manor's application to participate in the

2010 Formula One season The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Dri ...

had been accepted. Their Formula One team was registered as Manor Grand Prix although it raced as

Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...

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)

The Formula One team was renamed the Marussia F1 Team after

Marussia Motors Marussia Motors (russian: Маруся ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by for ...

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 Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French motor racing driver who drove for the Marussia F1 Team in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Bianchi had previously raced in Formula Renault 3.5, GP2 and Form ...

, 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 Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

. 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. Merhi Russia 2015

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 The 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars. It was the 66th Formula One World Championship recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (F ...

under the name Manor Marussia F1 Team with John Booth and

Graeme Lowdon Graeme Paul Lowdon (born 23 April 1965) is a British businessman and entrepreneur. He served as chief executive officer of the Virgin and Marussia Formula One teams. Originally from Corbridge, Lowdon grew up in Stocksfield. He gained both a bach ...

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

, 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 María de Villota Comba (13 January 1979 – 11 October 2013) was a Spanish racing driver. She was the daughter of former Formula One driver Emilio de Villota, and sister of Emilio de Villota Jr., who similarly competed in Formula Palmer ...

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

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 The 2015 Australian Grand Prix, formally titled the 2015 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 15 March 2015 in Melbourne. The race was contested over fifty-eight laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix C ...

, 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

External links

* {{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom British auto racing teams British Formula Renault teams Auto racing teams established in 1990 1990 establishments in the United Kingdom Companies based in South Yorkshire GP3 Series teams Formula Renault Eurocup teams Formula 3 Euro Series teams British Formula Three teams Auto GP teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams