After a solid rookie season with Carlin in 2012, Indonesia's Rio Haryanto will move to the Barwa Addax team for his sophomore year in the
GP2 Series championship next season.
"I am pleased to be joining the Addax Team for 2013," said the 19-year-old from Surakarta. "They are a team that have a very good history in
GP2 with many of their drivers progressing into F1.
"This will be my second year in GP2," he added. "With all the experience gained in 2012 I am confident that 2013 will be a successful year." Haryanto also gave his thanks to his sponsors for their continued backing, which include Pertamina, Garuda Indonesia, Telcomsel and Kiky.
Barwa Addax struggled in 2012 and ended up a disappointing eighth place in the team championship, after having won the team title the previous season. In their press release, Barwa Addax admitted that the season just gone had been a "delicate" one but insisted that they were determined to get back on form in 2013.
“We have to admit that 2012 wasn't the greatest of seasons for us," said team principal and owner Alejandro Agag. "We have put our unconditional faith for 2013 in Rio Haryanto to get back to the level we have demonstrated in the past.
"Rio has both the motivation and experience necessary and what's more the desire to improve and triumph, which fits in perfectly with our philosophy," Agag continued. "I would like to welcome him to the team and at the same time assure him that the team will do whatever is necessary to fulfil the goals we have set for this coming season."
Agag insisted that the team had never stopped pressing for wins, and that victories for Johnny Cecotto Jr. at Monaco and Hockenheim and an unexpected sprint race win for Josef Kral at Spa-Francorchamps had shown that the potential for success was still very much present.
Haryanto had a solid rookie season with Carlin, finishing in the points in nine of the 24 races in 2012. His best finish came with fifth place in the feature race at Valencia in June. Haryanto spent two days testing with Carlin at Barcelona in October, but Carlin announced last week that their 2013
GP2 line-up will consist of Felipe Nasr and Jolyon Palmer.
Haryanto also tested with DAMS and Lotus GP at
Jerez in November before deciding to sign up with Barwa Addax, who had been auditioning drivers including Alexander Sims, Jake Rosenzweig and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs in the two two-day post-season test sessions in Spain.
Prior to GP2, Haryanto began his racing career in karting before finding success with five victories in Formula Asia 2.0 category. He doubled that haul of wins on his way to winning the Formula BWM Pacific championship in 2009 before moving to GP3 in 2010 and 2011, scoring three wins over the two seasons with Marussia Manor Racing.
Haryanto was the first Indonesian driver to test an F1 car, with Virgin in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2010 although his outing suffered from gearbox problems. He subsequently had a second opportunity to test, this time at
Silverstone earlier in 2012 with the now-rechristened Marussia F1.