Arjun Maini enjoyed a fruitful DTM Round 7 at the Red Bull Ring, as he secured his first-ever DTM pole position in Qualifying 1 (making him the first Indian to achieve this feat in the series) and followed it up with two back-to-back podium finishes.
- Maini is currently eighth in the DTM standings
- Secured a pair of P3 finishes in Austria
Maini clinches his first DTM pole
He had a clean getaway in Race 1 but was soon overtaken by Marco Engel. Mirko Bortolotti then caught and passed both of them to take the lead on Lap 7. Once the light rain stopped, the grid switched to slicks. Maini showed an improved pace in these conditions, but he couldn’t find a way past Bortolotti and Engel and had to settle for P3.
“I had a good start, but unfortunately not a good pace on the wet track. After the tyre change, it was much better on the slicks. However, the gap to the front two was too great. The podium still feels good, but I really wanted to win,” said the Mercedes-AMG HRT driver.
Double podium finish
Maini produced another impressive drive to finish third in Race 2, but this time he had to do it from eighth on the grid. The Indian was among the few racers to take a late pit stop and it paid off as he rejoined the track in third place. Despite being on colder tyres, he successfully fended off Bortolotti. Rene Rast ended up winning the race ahead of Thomas Preining.
“It was an action-packed, hard-fought race. The podium feels even better than the one on Saturday because I was able to work my way into third place from eighth on the grid,” Maini said. “It was crucial that I managed to quickly get my tyres up to the right temperature after the pit stop.”
Maini currently stands eighth overall in the DTM standings, tied with Emil Grey Racing’s Jack Aitken.
Also see:
FanCode to stream DTM in India; packages start at Rs 19