Brilio.net/en - Manor Racing has officially announced that Rio Haryanto willbe relegated to the role of reserve driver after failing to meet contractual obligations to see out the remainder of the 2016 Formula One season.
Manor has since confirmed the Renault reserve, Esteban Ocon will take up Rio's race seat for the remainder of the season.
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Rio has been a much-valued member of our team since January, when we signed a contract with him for this season, said Manor racing director Dave Ryan. Some time ago, his management indicated that they were experiencing difficulties honoring the obligations of that contract beyond the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Rio's team have worked tirelessly to try to resolve that situation with his Indonesian backers and we have supported those efforts as much as possible, including allowing Rio to race in Germany. Unfortunately, we reached a point where, in the best interests of the team, we were forced to explore other options for the remainder of the season." he added.
Reportedly, Rio's management team could only pay 8 million euros out of a total of 15 million euros that was part of the deal.
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We are very pleased to continue our support for Rios Formula 1 ambitions, by offering him a reserve driver role for the rest of the current season. We very much hope that he will accept that offer.
Rio has since accepted the role of reserve driver.