R

span class="inline inline-left">Rio Haryanto. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama Indonesian racing driver Rio Haryanto stood on the second step of the podium in race two of round five of the GP2 series sprint race at the Silverstone circuit, England, on Sunday.

Rio from the Barwa Addax team crossed the line with a time of 37 minutes and 26 seconds to finish second behind the winner Jon Lancaster of Britain from the Hilmer Motorsport team with 37:19. ART Grand Prix team racer James Calado finished third clocking 37: 27.

'€œIt'€™s been a long time coming. Last year we had some good races, but I did not manage to be on the podium. Today, finally, we'€™re on the podium. It'€™s been a very difficult start to the season, but hopefully, this could be our turning point,'€ Rio said after the race as quoted by gp2series.com.

On the first race on Saturday, Rio only managed to finish seventh with 51:51.

'€œThe conditions [of the track] were very tricky. I mean, during practice it was wet, and the qualifying session was in the damp. The team managed to do a good job to give me a good car this weekend and hopefully we can keep this momentum for the next races,'€ he went on.

'€œThe start was not very good, but I managed to overtake [Julian] Leal [of Racing Engineering], but then Lancaster had a very good start and he was already in front of me in the first corner. After that, I was managing my tires and hoping for Lancaster to drop off, but he was very quick from beginning to end. P2 for me it'€™s quite a good result, but we still have some work to do for next race,'€ said Rio.

Lancaster, who skipped the race last year, said that he was fascinated by Sunday'€™s result.

'€œI was trying to get back into it and having done so and seeing how it'€™s gone, it'€™s just fantastic. You have to pick yourself up and tell yourself that you can do this'€.

Calado also expressed his satisfaction with Sunday'€™s race saying, '€œIt was a good start. I got to third and stayed there'€.

'€œI'€™m going through a bit of a hard time at the moment in terms of trying to find the right set up in races. I went through a few stages of tire degradation. I had a bit of front left degradation and then it went away and then it came back. It was inconsistent which is why I could catch Rio, and then drop back and then catch him again'€.

He said that his team had been working extremely hard since Monaco to try and solve the problem. '€œWe'€™ve made a step, but we have to keep pushing to try and find a little bit more and get back in the front again'€.

Commenting on the next race in Nurburgring, Germany, next week, Rio said he won at the track in GP3 two years ago.

'€œI like that track and hopefully we can be in the top 3 or 5 in qualifying and repeat again what happened this weekend here in Silverstone,'€ said the 20-year-old racer.