King to continue as Manor development driver

Manor Racing are to retain Great Britain’s Jordan King in the role of development driver for a second season, the team have announced. It follows his successful outing in last year’s post-race Abu Dhabi test.

King, 22, will continue to play a supporting role to Manor’s 2016 race line-up of Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto, at the same time contending this year’s GP2 Series with the Racing Engineering squad.

“Spending time trackside with the team last year was really important for me and for where I want to get to I saw all the processes and techniques that go into running an F1 team, plus I got a good grasp of how the tyres work as well as the data,” commented King, who finished 12th overall in GP2 last year.

“So when I got the chance to drive the MR03B in the Abu Dhabi test, it felt like I’d had a massive head-start and I was really confident. I racked up 300km in that test and loved every second in the car. But what I want to do now is race one and I’m flat out working to achieve that. Continuing in the Development Driver role with Manor Racing is key to that progression.”

Dave Ryan, Manor’s racing director, added: “I was at the Abu Dhabi test where Jordan drove our car for the first time and he did an impressive job. It was clear that he’d taken full advantage of the opportunity to get under the skin of the team and understand the systems, processes and people.

“Over the winter months he helped us to refine driver installation with the new chassis, pending the signing of our race drivers, so the Development Driver role really is mutually beneficial. We look forward to having him around the team and wish him a successful season in GP2.”