Oh yeah, you’d better believe it! Indonesia’s first ever F1 driver and the first person to win the Formula 1 ‘Driver of the Day’ poll (well, until it was taken away from him) is taking his first steps back into the world of motorsport.
Rio Haryanto drove 12 races for Manor in 2016 before losing his seat to Esteban Ocon and hasn’t raced since as his Mum said he’d be going to work for his Dad back at home (no, really).
He’ll be back in a race car this week though when he takes part in Formula E’s official pre-season test at Valencia.
There’s no hint as to whether he’ll be driving for a team or just in one of the championship’s demo cars, we just know that he’ll be driving because Rio said so on his Facebook page:
“I’m really looking forward to my first Formula E test, having watched some of its most exciting wheel-to-wheel battles on TV. Formula E has been providing close competition and with many manufacturers coming onboard, it looks like the championship will continue growing around the world. It would be great to see a Formula E race on the streets of Jakarta one day and showcase the future of motorsport and automobile in general.”
There’s still a fair few seats left for the upcoming season, which starts in Hong Kong on 2 December, so if he does well he could well be in line for one of them.
And based on the way the driver of the day vote in his debut F1 race went, you’d imagine he’d be a shoe-in for winning FanBoost!
