Ready for the New Season

The third and final pre-season test for the GP3 Series Championship took place this week at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. The Marussia Manor Racing team continued its preparations for the 2011 season which begins in Turkey in May, with all three drivers – Rio Haryanto, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Matias Laine - demonstrating a good pace during the three days.

The main objective this week was to continue gathering more valuable information from a variety of different race simulations. Plenty more mileage was added to the car ahead of the season opener that will take place next month.

It was a sunny and dry final test where the Marussia Manor Racing team always had one of its three cars in the top positions and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs topped the classification on the final day, demonstrating that the team is ready to fight for the Championship.

Pete Sliwinski, Team Manager

“We are satisfied with our preparations for the season. During the three pre-season tests we have developed our car set-ups as well as testing in all different types of weather conditions, which is always useful. We are more than ready to go racing again. All three drivers have done a very good job during the winter and I’m sure we will see good races this year.”

Rio Haryanto

“It has been very a productive week in Barcelona for the final pre-season test. The weather conditions have been similar to what it will be like at the first race in Istanbul, so it’s been good to drive and try the tyres here. I am very happy with how the team is working and I feel comfortable in the car.”

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs

“We had three very good days concentrating on developing the car from what we learned at Silverstone. We did a mix of runs from one lap to race distance and we were quick, finishing day three first and by a good margin. So now I can’t wait for the first race in Istanbul. It’s time to put our testing progress into action in the races.”

Matias Laine

“A positive final three-day test here in Barcelona. The weather has been warm and it hasn’t rained, which has been good to get ready for the first race in Istanbul. We have done some long runs and the car felt very good throughout the test. Some work still needs to be done to get the best out of the new tyres, but we are ready to face our first race of the season.”