#34 Ligier JS P217 Gibson (LMP2)

Owners: Nigel Moore and Simon Moore
Team Manager: Mike Rowe
Race Engineer: Dave Benbow
Location: Tockwith (UK)
Website: www.tockwithmotorsports.net

2016 ELMS ranking: 15th in LMP3 (9.5 points)

2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series ranking: 1st in LMP3 (2 wins, 77 points).

2017 FIA WEC and ELMS Results:

4 Hours of Silverstone : 5th Moore/Hanson (GBR/GBR) Ligier JS P217 – Gibson

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: DNF Moore/Hanson/Chandhock (GBR/GBR/IND) Ligier JS P217 – Gibson

4 Hours of Monza: 30th Moore/Hanson (GBR/GBR) Ligier JS P217 – Gibson (11th in LMP2)

Tockwith Motorsports was founded 47 years ago in 1970 by Simon Moore’s father. He was a former police officer who wanted to provide driver training for the under-17s. He thus opened the Tockwith Driving School on an old airfield in Tockwith near Leeds, in northern England. The centre now has three sections: a driving school (with training in go-karting, motorcycles, cars and trucks), driver management and racing.

Simon Moore’s racing career goes back 30 years. He has passed on the bug to his five children, including son Nigel (25) who now manages the team with him. Nigel started out in go-kart racing then moved on to the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2007. He took the title in his maiden season after clinching eight victories. He then competed in the Ginetta G50 Cup, again taking the crown. Next came two seasons in British GT (2008 and 2009), which led to him competing in the LMP1 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S, aged just 17, making him the youngest Briton ever to line up at the iconic race. He shared driving duties with Richard Dean and Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson. Unfortunately, their Le Mans venture came to an early end after 178 laps.

Nigel Moore worked his way further up the ranks by winning the Formula Palmer Audi trophy in 2010. For several years, he continued to compete in the VLN endurance cup, but generally kept a low profile until he reappeared on the scene in 2016. Tockwith Motorsports started that season with an Audi R8 LMS in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup, and Moore and Phil Hanson also competed in the Road To Le Mans race where they finished 35th. Mid-season, they switched to ELMS, fielding a Ligier JS P3 in ELMS with Moore and Hanson at the wheel. They took pole on their first appearance of the season at Le Castellet and finished P6 in the LM P3 class at that race. They earned a total 9.5 points to finish 16th at the end of the ELMS season. The same duo went on to win the opening round of the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship in Snetterton (UK).

Tockwith Motorsports continued to hone its experience, racing in the 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series. The driver line-up and the car (Ligier JS P3) remained unchanged. After victories at Fuji and Sepang, the outfit claimed the LMP3 crown with 77 points and an invitation to this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans to boot.

Tockwith Motorsports is thus running two campaigns this season: first, the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship in the UK with a Ligier JS P3 (LMP3) driven by Richard Dean and Sarah Moore, Nigel’s sister, and secondly, ELMS with a Ligier JS P217 Gibson (LMP2) steered by Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson. The team finished fifth at the first round at Silverstone. They were next seen at Spa Francorchamps for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) where they were joined by Karun Chandhock. The Indian driver, who has 11 Formula One Grand Prix under his belt, will also be part of the outfit’s Le Mans driver line-up. At Spa, however, the team failed to make it to the chequered flag, forced to retire just two hours into the race. Tockwith’s next race was the second ELMS round in Monza. Luck was against them there too: after battling with technical issues, they had to make do with 30th place overall (11th in LMP2).

This will be Tockwith Motorsports’ maiden Le Mans 24 Hours. The British outfit is also competing in three other World Endurance Championship races this season, at Nürburgring, Shanghai and Bahrein. 

Photo: PASCAL SAIVET/VISION SPORT AGENCY