Victory in Valencia

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs won his first race of the season for Marussia Manor Racing today at the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain. After qualifying in third position, he got off to an excellent start and was leading the race at Turn one after a great move. Adrian had a very good race pace and even though he was forced to slow down due to a Safety Car period during the first laps, he was able to get into the race again quickly and didn’t give his rivals a chance, comfortably driving to his first win of the season.

The Marussia Manor Racing driver also set the fastest lap during the race, adding one more point to the ten for the win and he is now fifth in the GP3 Series Championship.

Adrian will drive again tomorrow in the second race of the weekend here at the Valencia Street Circuit, starting from eighth position, as the first eight finishers in Race 1 start in reverse order the following day.

Positive Second Mid-season Test

Only two weeks after the test in Budapest, the Marussia Manor Racing GP3 Team were back on track this week taking part in the second mid-season test at the Circuit de Valencia in Spain.

Having analysed the data from the test in Budapest, it was another opportunity for the team to further develop the set-up of the Marussia Manor Racing GP3 car and continue to work on the team’s qualifying performance.

On the first day all three drivers Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Rio Haryanto and Matias Laine focused on working on race simulations ahead of the third round of the GP3 Series at the Valencia Street Circuit next week. During the first morning the drivers got to grips with the circuit, completing a total of 76 laps between them. Adrian managed to end up second after setting a time of 1:27.647, only 3 tenths away from the best time of the day. Matias was 13th and Rio, 25th. In the afternoon the team demonstrated good pace, with all three drivers finishing in the top ten. Rio was always within the leading quartet and after 30 laps and a best time of 1:28.409, he finished in first position. Adrian completed 31 laps and was 6th, while Matias finished 8th after 19 laps.

During the second and final day of testing in Valencia, all three drivers continued understanding the behaviour of the Pirelli P-Zero soft slick tyres, as well as concentrating on set-ups rather than trying to set quick times. Adrian, Rio and Matias added a further 96 laps to the teams tally, ending up 13th, 17th and 22nd respectively. Adrian improved his fastest lap time from yesterday, setting a personal best of 1:27.595. It was a very close final session this afternoon, with the top 20 drivers all within one second of each other. Rio set a time of 1:28.556, ending up second, while Matias was 12th and Adrian finished 21st.
The Marussia Manor Racing GP3 team will be back on track from the 24-26 June at the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain for the third round of the GP3 Series.


Pete Sliwinski, Team Manager
“This week we have demonstrated that we have the potential to be fighting at the top of the grid. We had the pace at the tests in Budapest and here in Valencia we have seen it again. So now we just need to put everything we have learned here into practice in the forthcoming races as well as focusing more during the qualifying sessions and get the best out of the tyres so that we can start the race in a good position.”
Rio Haryanto

“To be back at the top of the grid again is a good feeling. I know it’s only testing, but we have confirmed that we have good pace. We have done a really good job working on the car set-up during these two mid-season tests in Budapest and Valencia, and now we have to show that we can carry that through to the race next week weekend.”

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs
“Yesterday was good, as it showed that the direction we took in Hungary was the correct one and we backed it up with finishing second. Today we looked to further improve the set-up and concentrate on the behaviour of the tyres.”
Matias Laine
“I think we have done a good job here in Valencia. I feel comfortable in the car and we have achieved some good results. We have found a good set-up and I’m sure that we will be able to improve our performance in the next races.”

MARUSSIA MANOR RACING GP3 GOES TESTING IN BUDAPEST

After the first two races of the season, the Marussia Manor Racing GP3 Team this week took part in the first of the two mid-season tests at the Hungaroring in Budapest.

The team used this test to develop the set-up of the Marussia Manor Racing GP3 car as well as to continue understanding the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres and improve the team’s qualifying performance. During the first test day all three drivers Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Rio Haryanto and Matias Laine completed a total of 127 laps between them, acquiring plenty of valuable data for the team. Adrian was always in the top 12 and finished yesterday’s afternoon session in third position with a best time of 1:38.487 - within a tenth of the leader - demonstrating that the team has good pace. Rio ended up 24^th in both sessions and Matias was 29^th in the morning and 23^rd in the afternoon.

Today’s second and last day of testing in Budapest was useful for Marussia Manor Racing to continue achieving more valuable information that will be used during the forthcoming races. Adrian’s lap times were indicating progress for the team and he improved his time to 1:37.849. He ended the morning 5^th and only three tenths away from the best time. Rio was 12^th and Matias 19^th, just over half a second away from the top of the timesheets. In the afternoon it started to rain and Adrian finished 12^th, Matias 16^th and Rio was 24^th, adding a further 116 laps to the teams tally.

The Marussia Manor Racing GP3 team will be back on track testing again in Valencia on the 16^th and 17^th of June, before going back to racing a week later, from the 24-26 June at the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain.

Pete Sliwinski, Team Manager

“It has been a very useful test, and one that we needed before returning to the racing. Our start to the season hasn’t been the best, and certainly not what we expected, but luckily this is still only the beginning and we still have time to react and get better. The good news is that we know we have the pace and here in Budapest we have seen it again. Now we just need to focus more during qualifying to start the race in a good position and fight at the top of the grid.”

Rio Haryanto

“It has been a very constructive two days here in Budapest. We needed to make sure we spent some time understanding how to improve and we have made progress for sure. We still have another two days of testing in Valencia so I’m sure that when we are back racing we will be stronger.”

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs

“We came into this test looking to improve our qualifying performance, and we did. We started the day on our baseline set-up and gradually worked away at it and we think we have found a good solution now. I was P3 at the end of the day yesterday, and today we were also in the top positions. We still have another two days of testing in Valencia before the next race so I’m sure we can further fine tune our set-up.”

Matias Laine

“It’s always positive to have some testing days during the season. I think we have done a good job here in Budapest. Yesterday it wasn’t my best day, but today we found a good set-up. It started raining in the afternoon, and that didn’t really help us, but I am really happy with what we have done and I feel comfortable driving the car. It will be good to carry on working on all this at the Valencia test in two weeks’ time.”