Matt Howson will return to the FIA World Endurance championship paddock this weekend as he ‘re-joins’ the Manor team after 15 years away from the British team.
Howson will join Tor Graves and Antonio Pizzonia in the No.44 Oreca 05-Nissan at Nürburgring this weekend in a re-organised line-up.
Howson cut his racing teeth in 2001 with Manor Racing in Formula Renault and will now again work with the team which entered the FIA WEC at the start of the 2016 season.
“It is really nice to be back with the team and I am really thankful to Graeme (Lowdon) and John (Booth),” he said. “I only got notified to be here a few days ago but I am ready to go. The team have shown already that they are bang on the pace and can challenge for podiums.”
“I am just about to have my seat fitting in the car and in some respects I will be ‘plug-in and play’ because I obviously know the ORECA LMP2 car well from my races with KCMG,” continued Howson. “Last season here we had a really good race and won it, but this season of course there are many more ORECAS out there and I think it will be much tougher, but I am really looking forward to working with the Manor team.”
Antonio Pizzonia has an even longer history with Manor having raced for the British team back in 1998 when he won the British Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship. This was followed up in 1999 and 2000 with title success in the Formula Renault and British Formula Three championships respectively.
Both drivers will get their first run in the No.44 Oreca-Nissan tomorrow afternoon in the first Free Practice session which is scheduled to begin at 12h00 local time.
Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography. Matt Howson will be ready for whatever the Nurburgring brings!
