Ben Hanley has picked up another opportunity to race in the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship as he joins CEFC Manor TDS Racing for the 6 Hours of Mexico. The Former Renault development driver will race alongside Jean-Eric Vergne and Matt Rao in the #24 Manor LMP2 car.
Hanley has, so far, raced for four different team in the LMP2 class as ‘one off’ opportunities. The only WEC round Hanley has not taken part in this season was the opener at Silverstone. Racing with TDS Racing, DragonSpeed and G-Drive Racing, he has made good impressions up and down the grid.
Graeme Lowdon, Manor’s sporting director, told Motorsport.com that the reason for the one off appearance for Hanley came about because “There is often an opportunity at the end of the European season to shuffle the line-up a little bit and that’s what we’ve done, although we are not completely set for the rest of the season.
“We’re delighted that Ben will be racing with us. We’ve seen him over the years in Formula Renault 3.5, as well as more recently in LMP2. We know he’s a quick driver.”
Rao returns to Manor after Signatech Alpine have decided to reduce their car entry from two to one for the remainder of the season. Andre Negrao has moved from the #35 to the #36 to finish the season sharing the cockpit with Nicolas Lapierre and Gustavo Menezes.
For Rao and Hanley to have a seat in the #24, Jonathan Hirschi and Tor Graves have stepped away from the line up of the #24. The crew in the #25 Manor ORECA 07, Vitaly Petrov, Simon Trummer and Roberto Gonzalez, will remain the same as the WEC moves to the fly away races.
