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F1 German Grand Prix: Haryanto expects ‘busy summer' pursuing funding

Rio Haryanto says he and his management will be kept busy over the summer break as they attempt to secure sufficient funding to keep the Indonesian driver in his race seat at Manor, after being given dispensation to stay for the German Grand Prix.

Despite having a one-year deal with Manor, Haryanto's initial funding plan ended last weekend at round 10 in Hungary and after failing to secure the full funding for the remainder of the year he only discovered he would be racing in Germany when he arrived on Tuesday after holding talks with the team.

Haryanto has confirmed he and the management team will use the three-week summer break to secured additional sponsors and funding, with the second half of the campaign potentially playing to his strengths for negotiations.

After the completing of the European stint of the season, F1 heads to Asia for Singapore, Malaysia and Japan and Haryanto hopes with the sport in the region it can spark up interest to secure vital backing.

"It was a little bit uncomfortable but I am very pleased to be back here at the Hockenheimring and everything is fine now to go racing," Haryanto said. "I am very confident because the contract has always been a one-year contract.

"I am confident over the summer break we have three weeks when there will be potential more sponsors coming and there are also races closer to my home country and there will be interest for potential sponsors. Of course I would like to have a break as well but it is going to be a little bit busy.

"My management are working and I believe them a lot and they are doing the best they can. The team is also really supportive and I am thankful to the team."

Haryanto says he has also had to deal with heavy expectations from his supporters for success given he is racing with one of the back-marker teams with those fans new to F1 surprised by his lack of success compared to his GP2 Series results.

"It is a difficult one for them because they are very new to F1 and of course they expect a lot for me to do well, coming from GP2 I had been doing well and they were following that," he said. "I did really well and they expected the same but I also have to give them some education about F1 and they will see how different it is."

Zdroj: crash.net