Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsManor

'Manor still wants me to join' - Haryanto

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Rio Haryanto says Manor has given him more time to find the required funds to race for the team in 2016.

The Indonesian driver was strongly linked with a seat at Manor over the winter but has failed to come up with the required funding in time following deadlines set by the team. The Jakarta Post reports Haryanto was due to provide payment by February 5.

Following the passing of that deadline, it is reported Manor director Abdulla Boulsien met with Haryanto and Indonesian Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi in Jakarta in an attempt to resolve the issue.

"Manor still wants me to join," Haryanto said. "It has given us another week to settle although in fact the [down payment] deadline for us is actually overdue."

However, Imam admits new backers will need to be found in order for Haryanto to reach the required total.

"We will continue supporting Rio," Imam said. "We hope more parties will jump in to support him financially because what we’ve got now is not yet enough."

Manor has just one race seat left available for 2016 having confirmed Pascal Wehrlein as one of its drivers earlier this week.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.