Indonesian Gelael to test with Toro Rosso F1 team

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Indonesian driver Sean Gelael will take part in three Formula One tests with Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso this year, the Italy-based team said on Wednesday.

Gelael, 20, will be at the first in-season test in Bahrain in April, in Hungary just before the August break and in Abu Dhabi after the championship ends in November.

Toro Rosso, preparing for Sunday’s Australian season-opener in Melbourne, published the details on their Twitter feed along with a photograph of the driver having a seat fitting at the Faenza factory.

Gelael, who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Indonesia’s first Formula One driver Rio Haryanto, will be competing in Formula Two — the renamed GP2 feeder series — this year after making his debut in 2016.

Haryanto is no longer in Formula One after losing his seat with now-defunct Manor.

Gelael’s father Ricardo runs the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchise for Indonesia and was linked last year to a takeover of Manor.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris)