Following constructor’s finishes for the last seven seasons in last place, followed by very few points and needing pay drivers just to keep their team afloat, Manor Racing on Friday closed its doors, unable to participate in this upcoming formula one world championship for 2017.
Just Racing Services, the company which owned the team, entered administration earlier this month, and was given only until January 31st to find a new buyer for the team. But failing to do this, even with a few days remaining, caused the team to joined HRT, Caterham and USF1, who closed down their doors due to the high costs of the sport.
In a statement from FRP advisory, which had still interested parties in the deal, issued a statement saying that the team officially had ceased trading.
“During recent months, the senior management team have worked tirelessly to bring new investment to the team to secure its long term future, but regrettably were been unable to do so within the time available and were left with no alternative but to place JRSL into administration to protect the best interests of the underlying businesses and in order to continue a search for a buyer,” the statement said.
Since their appointment earlier this month the joint administrators at FRP Advisory have continued to work, with the support of senior management, to try and secure new investment into the business resulting in negotiations with a number of interested parties. During that period funding was secured to ensure payment of all staff salaries until 31 January 2017. Regrettably since the appointment of administrators no investment has been secured in the limited time available to continue the Group in its present form. With no sustainable operational or financial structure in place to maintain the Group as a going concern, the joint administrators have now ceased trading JRSL and unfortunately have had to send all staff home from work today Friday 27 January. While all 212 staff will be paid on Tuesday 31 January, all but a small handful of staff are expected be made redundant by the end of January.”
Geoff Rowley, the administrator at FRP added that the group faced a very limited time to find a buyer.
“It is deeply regrettable that the team has had cease trading and close its doors,” he said. “Manor is a great name in British Motorsport and the team has achieved a great deal over the past two years, invigorated under new ownership. Operating and running a F1 team to the high standards demanded however requires significant ongoing investment. Just Racing Services Limited was put into administration at the start of January shortly after attempts to sell the business fell through at the last hurdle. The administration process provided a moratorium to allow for attempts to secure a long term viable solution for the team within in a very limited time-frame but sadly no solution could be achieved to allow for the business to continue in its current form within what was a very tight time-frame.”
We would like to thank all the staff for their support and professionalism during this difficult process. We shall initiate a formal redundancy process for all staff on Tuesday, once they have been paid for the full month of January. As joint administrators, our immediate focus will be to assist staff who will have lost their jobs and to provide them with the necessary support to submit timely claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”
The team first encountered problems in 2014, when it was known as Marussia, missing the final three races of that season, owing over 50 million dollars in debt. It exited administration the following year, rebranded as Manor. The team failed to achieve one point last season, being defeated by Sauber when the Swiss team scored one point in Brazil. Team owner at the time Steven Fitzpatrick, began stories that the was trying to sell the team and was talking to potential buyers.
Mark Gero has written formula one racing stories since 2002 on the Internet for such sites as Motorsport.com, Racing Information Service News and for a brief time at the Munich Eye newspaper in Munich, Germany along with Autoweek online. Mark also has a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism in London, England and in addition a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa.