Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Though it was his father and older brother who first introduced Rio Haryanto (16/Questnet Team Qi-Meritus) to motorsport at the age of five, the young Indonesian has since fully come in to his own, securing the 2009 Formula BMW Pacific Drivers’ Classification title and becoming the first Indonesian driver to do so. Rio Haryanto will have a family celebration with Questnet Team Qi-Mertius, how wins the 2009 Formula BMW Pacific Team Title and won the 1995 team title with his brother Roy in Formula 13 years before

Consistency, in addition to no small measure of natural talent, played a large part in Haryanto’s success this season as he earned first-place points in ten races, a winning streak that began in Round 6 in Kuala Lumpur and then followed him to Sentul, Indonesia, Singapore, as the series raced in support of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, on the program at the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Okayama, Japan and then at the season finale at the Macau Grand Prix. In total, Haryanto reached the podium 12 times in 15 races in his debut Formula BMW Pacific season, including six outright wins.

For Haryanto, his ‘home’ race in Indonesia proved pivotal: “Sentul was the turning point for me because it was my home race and I knew the track better than the others,” he said. “From the practice I was the fastest and then in the four races, perfect. It was really perfect for me and when we got to Singapore I had some confidence and was able to keep going.”

The Indonesian made his Formula BMW Pacific debut in 2008, when he raced in the final three rounds of the series as a guest driver. The excitement of racing on Singapore’s Marina Bay street circuit, in Shanghai and at Formula BMW Pacific’s inaugural race at the Macau Grand Prix, brought him back for a full season in 2009.

“I expected to win the championship because I had already raced three times as part of the series, so I think I came in with more experience than the others,” Haryanto said. “But at the beginning of the year, I struggled and didn’t win that many races. But then when it came to Sentul, I won all four races and we just kept working hard.”

He also believes that winning the Formula BMW Pacific title will serve as the platform to further his international motorsport career: “I’m very happy to have the title and it’s fantastic to be the first Indonesian to win Formula BMW Pacific.”

The Malaysia Meritus-Grand Prix team wins the 2009 Formula BMW Pacific team title making is seven years and 7 BMW titles. Meritus won the Formula BMW title in 2003 with taking the drivers Hopin Tung, 2004 with Marchy Lee taking the drivers title, 2005 with Hamad Al Fardan and Micheal Patrizi, 2006 with Earl Bamber taking driver title, 2007 with Jazman Jafaar taking the drivers title, 2008 with Ross Jamison taking the drivers title for Meritus and 2009 for the seven time with Rio Haryanto, 13 years to week after his brother Roy helped the team win the its first title in Asia.

Meritus-Grand Prix provides all the steps on the Asian motorsport ladder to from Karting via Formula BMW Pacific provide the best training at reasonable costs, the next step is Formula V6 which is by default the development series for GP2 Asia and in 2011 Meritus-GP will provide the last rung with GP2 Europe.

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