Haryanto's first year in cars saw him compete in three Asian-based series: the Asian Formula Renault Challenge, Formula Asia 2.0, and Formula BMW Pacific. He was most competitive in the Formula Asia 2.0 series, winning two races to finish third in the championship behind Felix Rosenqvist and Matthias Beche.
In 2009, his main focus was the Formula BMW Pacific championship, which he dominated driving for the Malaysian Meritus team. He took 11 victories from 15 races — including a perfect run of four outright victories, pole positions, and fastest laps across four consecutive races at his home circuit of Sentul. He also competed in a round of the equivalent European FBMW series as a guest driver.
Haryanto moved to the European racing scene full-time for 2010, joining Manor Racing for the GP3 Series. His teammates were James Jakes, Adrien Tambay, and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. He won a race at Istanbul Park and took two further podiums, finishing fifth in the championship as the leading Manor driver. Autosport magazine described his form as "one of the surprises of the season."
He remained with the team for 2011, now badged as Marussia Manor Racing, alongside Quaife-Hobbs and Matias Laine. He increased his victory count to two, winning at the Nürburgring and the Hungaroring, both in rainy conditions — earning him a reputation as a wet-weather specialist. Inconsistency earlier in the year, including seven races without scoring points, saw him finish seventh in the championship.
Alongside his 2011 GP3 campaign, Haryanto drove for DAMS in the Auto GP series. He took a win at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia and finished seventh in the standings. His combined efforts with teammates Sergey Afanasyev, Tambay, and substitute Kevin Korjus were enough for DAMS to win the teams' championship.
Haryanto made his GP2 Series début with DAMS at the non-championship season finale at Yas Marina in 2011. He was the first Indonesian to compete at this level of motorsport since Ananda Mikola competed in International Formula 3000 during 2000 and 2001.
For 2012 he joined the Marussia-backed Carlin team, partnering Max Chilton. He secured a single pole position — in wet conditions at Spa — and a best race finish of fifth at Valencia, ending 14th in the championship.
In 2013 he raced for Barwa Addax Team alongside Jake Rosenzweig, claiming his first GP2 podium at Silverstone on 30 June 2013 — also the team's first podium of that season.
For 2014 he moved to EQ8 Caterham Racing, partnering Alexander Rossi, and took his second GP2 podium at Monaco on 24 May 2014.
In 2015 he switched to Campos and took his first GP2 victory in a sprint race at Bahrain, following a second-place finish in the feature race the previous day. He added a second sprint victory at the Red Bull Ring despite a damaged front wing, finishing fourth in the championship with 138 points.
Haryanto had been linked to the Virgin Racing/Marussia/Manor team since his 2010 GP3 season. In autumn 2010 he won the right to test with Virgin Racing at Abu Dhabi on 16 November, as the highest-ranked Manor driver in the GP3 standings. He suffered gearbox problems and posted the slowest time in the morning session. In 2012 he and Max Chilton drove for Marussia in young driver tests at Silverstone, where Haryanto completed 300 kilometres — satisfying one of the superlicence eligibility conditions and becoming the first Indonesian driver to qualify for one.
On 18 February 2016, Haryanto was confirmed as a Manor Racing driver for the 2016 Formula One season alongside 2015 DTM Champion Pascal Wehrlein. His debut at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix was disrupted by a pit lane collision with Romain Grosjean during practice, for which he received a three-place grid penalty and two penalty points. He retired from the race on lap 18 with a drive link problem. He was also briefly the most-voted driver in the newly introduced Driver of the Day vote before an Indonesian IP address was found to have attempted to rig the results; Romain Grosjean was ultimately awarded the honour.
Over his 12 races, results included 17th in Bahrain, 21st in China ahead of Jolyon Palmer, involvement in a first-lap crash in Russia with Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez, and a career-best 15th in Monaco. A 16th-place finish in Austria highlighted the performance gap to teammate Wehrlein, who scored Manor's only championship point of the season in the same race.
On 10 August 2016, Manor confirmed Haryanto's demotion to reserve driver due to a lack of sponsorship — funds promised by the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sport had been blocked by Parliament, citing invalid procurement procedures by Minister Imam Nahrawi. Esteban Ocon was announced as his replacement. When the parent company collapsed at season's end, Haryanto was the only team driver not to continue on the 2017 grid; Ocon and Wehrlein moved to Force India and Sauber respectively.
In 2018 Haryanto competed in the SIC888 Race at Shanghai International Circuit, teaming with fellow Indonesians Anderson Tanoto and Audi R8 LMS Cup champion Andrew Haryanto (no relation) in an Audi R8 LMS GT4. The trio finished fifth in the six-hour race.
In 2019 he raced in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia with T2 Motorsports in the No. 75 Ferrari 488 GT3, alongside David Tjiptobiantoro for most rounds. He finished 31st overall and 12th in the Pro-Am Cup. He also competed in the 2019–20 Asian Le Mans Series with T2 Motorsports in the same car, adding Italian driver Christian Colombo as a third co-driver. He finished ninth in the driver's championship.
Haryanto was born in Solo to Sinyo Haryanto and Indah Pennywati, both Surakarta locals of Chinese-Indonesian descent. His three older brothers — Roy, Ricky, and Rian — also had careers in national racing events; their father was active in racing until 2003.
In 2014, Haryanto earned a business degree from Anglia Ruskin University, studying at their Singaporean campus. He subsequently oversaw the security printing division of his family's printing company Kiky. During his Formula One career, Kiky was involved in a copyright infringement lawsuit with Spanish cartoonist Adaco. Haryanto owns Grandis Barn Restaurant in Surakarta and Teakyard Restaurant in Colomadu, Central Java. He and his family are devout Muslims; he adheres the Throne Verse to his car cockpit as a race ritual. He supports his hometown football club Persis Solo. On 5 December 2024, Haryanto married Athina Papadimitriou, niece of Sandiaga Uno.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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