30/05/2010
NEWS STORY
Manor Racing's Rio Haryanto kept his cool in the scorching heat of Istanbul to win his first GP3 Series race earlier today.
The 17-year-old Indonesian didn't allow the pressure of starting on reverse-grid pole get to him, and made the perfect start holding onto the lead into turn 1. He then drove the perfect race to take victory at Istanbul Park 2.2 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Miki Monras. After setting the pace on Friday, the win will make up for a difficult qualifying session for the young driver yesterday. Haryanto has now moved up to 7th in the standings from 16th with 7 points.
MW Arden's Miki Monras had a fairly quiet drive to his second place finish. After a good start the Spanish driver was unable to make a move past Haryanto for the lead and remained sandwiched between the Manor driver and Jenzer Motorsport's Nico Muller for the majority of the race.
Alexander Rossi got bogged down at the start of the race losing his fifth spot, but the ART driver soon regained his composure and battled hard to take the final podium spot. The decisive move came when the he squeezed past Muller into turn 1, the Swiss no longer able to hold back the determined American.
Status GP's Daniel Morad had a solid race to fifth spot, the Lebanese driver losing one place at the start but fending well throughout the race to take two points. The final point went to yesterday's podium sitter Felipe Guimaraes. The Addax Team driver had a tough final stint of the race trying to hold back ART's Esteban Gutierrez. The series leader fought hard during the 15 lap race, first with James Jakes for 7th spot and then with Felipe Guimaraes, the Brazilian doing a stellar job to hold position.
Manor Racing's James Jakes finished his race in 8th, closely followed by Doru Sechelariu who finished his strong weekend with a top ten finish. Rounding out the top ten was Dean Smith who fought back from 22nd on the grid after a disappointing race yesterday.
Status GP's Robert Wicken's weekend went from bad to worse today. A battle with Jakes left the former Series points leader with a rear wheel puncture forcing him to take an unscheduled pit stop. Back out on track the Canadian driver posted a series of fastest laps but was already too far back to take advantage and collect any points finishing the race in 21st spot and third in the standings.