Merhi to make race return in Asian Le Mans Series

Ex-Formula 1 and FIA World Endurance Championship driver Roberto Merhi will compete with Eurasia Motorsport in the LMP2 class of Asian Le Mans Series this winter, it has been announced.

Merhi will race a Ligier JS P217 alongside Nick Foster and Aiden Read in the 2019/20 season, beginning with this month’s Shanghai curtain-raiser.

It will be the Spanish driver’s first competitive outing since he raced with MP Motorsport in Formula 2 in 2018, when he finished 12th in the standings after missing two rounds.

Merhi’s last LMP2 outing came at the Nurburgring in the 2017 WEC season, when he shared a Manor TRS Racing Oreca 07 with Jonathan Hirschi and Tor Graves.

“I would like to thank Eurasia Motorsport for this opportunity to get back behind the wheel, special thanks also to Dave Madgwick at Bam Motorsports for making this possible,” said Merhi. “I am very excited and looking forward to put on a great race in Shanghai."

Mark Goddard, Eurasia Motorsport Team Principal added: “We are delighted to welcome Roberto to our team, with all his obvious qualities. Adding him to our line-up should put us in contention for victories and a genuine shot at the Championship."

Merhi will be joined on the Asian Le Mans grid with another ex-Manor F1 driver in Rio Haryanto, who will share a T2 Motorsports-run Ferrari 488 GT3 with Italian Christian Colombo.

Other familiar names on the grid include current Aston WEC racer Ross Gunn and recently-crowned Super Formula champion Nick Cassidy, although the latter is expected to miss the Shanghai opener due to a clash with the SUPER GT/DTM 'Dream Race' at Fuji.