CEFC TRSM Racing, or what we previously knew as Manor, have their first driver ready for the upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship 2018/19 season.
25 year-old Oliver Rowland will be driving the brand new Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 car that the British-Chinese team have bought.
Rowland has been through the single-seater ranks, and has driven almost everything but Formula 1. He won the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship in 2015, and finished second in the Formula 2 Championship 2017. He has been a front runner in both the Formula Renault UK and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series.
Photo: CEFC TRSM Racing
The Manor team is preparing for their third season in the FIA WEC, with the first two being run with two cars in the LMP2 category. They have shown glimpse of speed, but it has been very turbulent for the team regarding driver line-ups, which was often determined by the chequebook of the drivers. 2016 was an extreme example of that, with 14 different drivers competing in the 9 rounds. That was thankfully reduced to 9 drivers in 9 rounds in 2017, with basically a pre Le Mans and post Le Mans line-up in the #24 car. Their LMP1 programme will hopefully be with a fully fixed line-up, without any changes, since that is what’s needed to be at the top of the category.
The two other drivers will be announced soon – perhaps even later today, when the full FIA WEC entry list will be revealed.
