Lowdon: “Business as Usual” for Manor at Test Day

Graeme Lowdon says the Le Mans Test Day will be “business as usual” for CEFC TRSM Racing, with both Ginetta G60-LT-P1 Mecachromes expected to run.

The Manor president and sporting director told Sportscar365 that the commercial side of the operation is more stable than it was at the Total Six Hours of Spa last month, which saw both cars withdrawn amid cash flow issues between major backer TRS and the team.

The cars are present at Le Mans, with Ginetta branding instead of CEFC, and have begun the scrutineering schedules in preparation for its competition debuts. 

“At Spa, clearly there was an issue that was being dealt with at the time,” said Lowdon.

“We don’t anticipate anything other than running to the engineering and technical schedule. As far as we’re concerned, on the commercial side, everything is up to where it needs to be.

“From a technical point of view, it’s business as usual in terms of car preparation and everything else.

“We’re just looking forward to the rest of the Super Season now.”

Lowdon admitted that the lack of on-track activity at Spa has steepened the learning curve for the team ahead of its LMP1 debut.

Since Spa, Ginetta has conducted straight-line testing of the LMP1 package but no further circuit running has been carried out.

Lowdon said that the team’s primary objective for the test day is to accrue more mileage on both chassis, while three of its six drivers – Oliver Rowland, Mike Simpson and Charlie Robertson – are required to complete a minimum of ten laps to be eligible for the race.

“With a 24-hour race in particular, the things that come and bite you are the things that you’re not aware of,” he said.

“It can be the smallest things, and often it’s only through putting mileage on the car that you’re going to find certain things out.

“We didn’t get the mileage that we could have had in Spa, so we’ve had to play a little bit of catch up there. But we’re really happy with the running that we’ve been doing. We just need to get some more of it now.

“Every LMP1 is completely different. [Toyota has] obviously prepared incredibly well for this race and I’m sure every team would love to be in that position.

“The bottom line is that we’re not, so there’s no point just worrying about that.

“We just need to focus on things that we can affect and use as much of the available testing time as we possibly can to be as ready as we possibly can.”