WEC: Manor LMP2 cuts back to one car for Mexico

The Manor LMP2 team will trim down its World Endurance Championship assault to one car for the next round at Mexico City.

The British team has opted to field just one of its pair of ORECA-Nissan 05s at the Mexican WEC round on September 3 in what it expects to be a one-off move.

"We will focus our efforts on the #44 car in Mexico in order to concentrate on one or two issues that have cost us podium finishes in recent races," Manor sporting director Graeme Lowdon explained. "All being well, we will be back at two cars for Austin [COTA, on Sept. 17] and the rest of the season."

Manor has not disclosed the identity of the issues mentioned by Lowdon, but the #45 car retired from last month's Nurburgring WEC race with a brake disc problem. Brake issues were also implicated in the accidents suffered by Tor Graves and Matt Rao at the Spa and Le Mans 24 Hours rounds, respectively.

The team is reshuffling its driver line-up for the Mexican race after deciding against fielding its #45 car, which is on a race-by-race entry. Britons Rao and Richard Bradley, whose regular partner is ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi, will share with team newcomer Alfonso Toledano Jr.

An occasional driver in the Formula Acceleration 1 series for old A1GP machinery, Toledano is racing in his homeland on a one-off basis but could contest further races with the team, which has two vacancies following the departure of Will Stevens and James Jakes.

"We will have to see how it goes for him and for us, but there is the possibility to continue," said Lowdon. "We have been approached by a lot of drivers looking to do the remainder of the WEC and quite a few who wanted to do Mexico.

"The enthusiasm of the fans in Mexico is absolutely massive, so it will be good to have a local driver on board to put a spring in everyone's step."

Thirty-year-old Toledano is the son of the late Alfonso Toledano, who was one of Ayrton Senna's teammates in British Formula Ford in 1981 and also raced against Manor boss John Booth.

Originally on Autosport.com