Arjun Maini creates history at Norisring, becomes the first India to stand on DTM podium

oi-Avinash Sharma

Germany,
October
10:
Mercedes-AMG
driver
Arjun
Maini
made
history
during
the
first
race
of
the
2021
DTM
Championship’s
season
finale
when
he
claimed
second
place
at
the
Norisring
race
circuit.
The
result
made
him
the
first
Indian
to
stand
on
a
DTM
podium.

The
Omega
Seiki
and
J.K.Tyre
backed
driver
was
justly
rewarded
for
the
pace
he
has
shown
throughout
the
season
with
the
Indian
managing
to
hold
off
a
strong
challenge
from
championship
leader
Liam
Lawson
towards
the
end
of
the
race.

As
expected
going
into
the
weekend,
Maini
was
able
to
make
full
use
of
his
prior
knowledge
of
the
Norisring
race
circuit
from
his
Formula
3
days.
The
Indian
finished
second
in
Free
Practice
2
before
qualifying
fourth
for
the
weekend’s
first
race.
While
the
Indian
was
overtaken
by
Mercedes
stablemate
Maximillian
Gotz
at
the
start,
he
managed
to
keep
out
of
major
trouble,
despite
banging
wheels
with
Lawson
and
mildly
damaging
his
front
right
suspension.

It
took
Arjun
many
laps
to
get
used
to
the
damage
and
yet
retain
a
reasonable
pace.

A
cleanly
executed
pitstop
from
the
GetSpeed
racing
team
further
aided
the
Indian’s
effort,
with
Maini
leapfrogging
Lawson
and
settling
in
behind
Gotz,
a
position
he
would
go
on
to
maintain
for
the
remainder
of
the
race.

“I’m
absolutely
delighted
with
the
result,”
a
clearly
jubilant
Maini
stated.

“We’ve
worked
so
hard
throughout
the
year
and
while
our
qualifying
pace
has
been
good,
we’ve
never
been
able
to
stitch
together
a
clean
race.
Today
was
just
one
of
those
days
where
everything
came
together,
our
pace
was
good
and
GetSpeed
executed
a
well-judged
pitstop.

“We
have
one
more
race
to
go
tomorrow
so
I
won’t
be
celebrating
too
much,
but
I
have
to
say
it
feels
good
to
finally
achieve
my
aim
for
the
season.”

The
result
also
marked
GetSpeed’s
first
podium
in
the
championship,
the
team
made
their
DTM
debut
this
season
with
Maini
and
the
pair
have
performed
admirably
over
the
course
of
the
season
given
their
relative
lack
of
experience.

The
season’s
final
qualifying
session
and
race
can
be
streamed
on
AutoCar
India’s
YouTube
channel
(https://www.youtube.com/c/autocarindia1)
with
Qualifying
flagging
off
at
1
pm
IST
with
the
race
starting
at
5
pm
IST.