The much awaited moment has come for Rio Haryanto, the young Indonesian talent, as today he is on the track of Jerez circuit testing GP2 car with the French team DAMS alongside other drivers such as Valtteri Bottas (the GP3 2011 champion), Luca Filippi, Fabio Onidi and Giovanni Venturini.

I am pretty sure Rio’s fan in Indonesia and elsewhere have also been waiting for this moment. The boy is on his way to the higher level, pursuing his dream to be the Indonesia’s first F1 driver.

Rio Haryanto deserves such achievement following his steadily improving performances in AutoGP and GP3 this year. He finished second in AutoGP race in Brno and took a dominant victory in Valencia. He is also already a double-winner in GP3 race with two wins in Germany and  Hungary, making him the only driver to have more than one victory aside from Valtteri Bottas.

I have to take a note especially on his amazing GP3 win in Nurburgring, Germany. The rain-affected race ended with a thrilling battle on the slippery condition involving the top three drivers: Rio Hariyanto, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Williamson. Despite having slick tyres, Rio Haryanto showed his talent by overtaking Williamson and defended his leading position from Bottas attack until the very end of the last lap. I remember the commentator in Eurosport channel saying something like “Oh my words… this is great stuff! I don’t really know how these boys keep their cars on the track, I really don’t! Absolutely wonderful driving skills from these boys!”

Yeah! that pretty much shows you what Rio Haryanto is capable of.

And with the ongoing GP2 test (scheduled today and tomorrow) in Jerez, let’s pray for Rio Haryanto. I can’t wait to see what is going to come out of him in the near future as he is still growing (remember, he’s just 18 years old!). He is the one to watch, everybody.

Credits: various sources

Written for Good News From Indonesia by Faisal Cahyadi

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