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Manor: Complexities of LMP1 motivated swoop for Ferrari's Greenwood

The complexities of developing an LMP1 car in the World Endurance Championship motivated the Manor team's recruitment of Ferrari Formula 1 engineer Dave Greenwood.

The Briton, who engineered Kimi Raikkonen for the past three seasons, has left Ferrari and will join Manor as technical director ahead of the team's graduation to the LMP1 ranks for the 2018/19 WEC superseason with the new Ginetta G60-LT-P1 unveiled on Thursday at Autosport International.

Manor sporting director Graeme Lowdon told Autosport: "Racing at the level we will be competing at in the superseason will require an F1-level technical set-up - the only difference is the letter in front of the '1'.

"The demands of F1 and LMP1 are different, but the skill set is the same and that's why we have created the position of technical director and brought in Dave.

"In LMP2 [in which Manor entered the sportscar arena in 2016] it is much more about the racing rather than developing the car, which is why we didn't have a chief engineer or anything like that."

Greenwood is returning to the Manor fold after working with Lowdon and fellow Manor team boss John Booth from their graduation to F1 under the Virgin Racing banner in 2010.

The Briton stayed with the team, which adopted the Marussia name in 2011, until its financial problems at the end of 2014.

Greenwood is expected to be able to formally join Manor ahead of the opening WEC superseason round at Spa at the start of May.

Manor is likely to run a single Ginetta LMP1 in 2018/19, but has not ruled out fielding a second car.

No drivers for the LMP1 or its LMP2 programme, which is due to continue into the superseason, have been announced so far.

The completed Ginetta G60 is scheduled to be given a shakedown on an airfield next week ahead of the start of testing proper the week after.

The car is powered by French engine builder Mecachrome's direct-injection turbo V6, although Manor has yet to formally announce what powerplant it will be racing in 2018/19.

Zdroj: autosport.com