Rio Haryanto was unable to match Manor Racing team-mate Pascal Wehrlein during qualifying for the German Grand Prix on Saturday, but was still happy enough to stay off the back row of the grid, qualifying ahead of both of the Sauber drivers.
The Indonesian GP2 Series graduate, who looks set the depart the team after this weekend’s race at the Hockenheimring if he cannot find the funding to remain in the car, was satisfied that he improved his time every time he left the garage, ending just a tenth of a second from Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, and feels the long race pace during practice for the team looks promising for Sunday’s race.
“[I am] very happy,” revealed Haryanto. “We managed to improve every time we left the garage today. The times were very close through the field today.
“I think we’ve done a good job overall and I feel like I’ve taken a good step forward here. Also, we’ve made some good improvements recently and I think we’re seeing some of the benefit of those today.
“We did a good job to stay ahead of the Sauber and I’m in a better position for the start. Our race pace looks good, so I hope we can have a strong race.”
