Arjun Maini makes history at the Nürburgring, becomes first Indian to score points at DTM Championship

Maini,
who
is
backed
by
Omega
Seiki
Mobility
and
J.K.Tyre,
showed
tremendous
maturity
by
finishing
10th
and
a
career-best
seventh
at
the
two
races
held
at
the
legendary
race
circuit.
After
enduring
a
series
of
unfortunate
incidents,
the
Mercedes-AMG
star
finally
had
a
race
weekend
devoid
of
any
on-track
misfortune
and
he
made
the
most
of
this
fact
by
delivering
a
steady
and
measured
drive
over
the
course
of
both
of
the
weekend’s
races.

Racing
for
the
GetSpeed
team,
Maini
struggled
to
put
an
Ideal
lap
together
and
could
only
manage
a
12th
place
start
for
Race
1.
The
Indian
made
a
tremendous
getaway,
making
a
few
places,
as
the
cars
made
their
way
around
the
first
lap.

However,
an
incident
involving
fellow
Mercedes
star
Max
Bukh
brought
out
the
Safety
Car,
meaning
the
Indian
had
it
all
to
do
again.
The
restart
saw
Maini
make
up
yet
more
positions
with
the
Indian
establishing
himself
in
the
top
10.

Unfortunately,
tyre
wear
issues
started
to
hamper
Maini’s
progress
meaning
that
the
Mercedes
man
was
forced
to
nurse
his
car
home
to
a
10th
place
race
finish.

While
history
was
made
on
Saturday,
there
was
more
to
come
on
Sunday.
A
wet
Qualifying
2
session
meant
Maini
found
himself
piloting
a
GT3
racecar
for
the
first
time
in
wet-weather
conditions.
Despite
his
best
efforts,
Maini
failed
to
qualify
inside
the
top
10
meaning
he
had
a
mountain
to
climb
during
the
second
race
of
the
weekend
starting
in
P14.

The
Mercedes-AMG
driver
showed
remarkable
maturity
in
what
ultimately
proved
to
be
a
chaotic
race
that
saw
nine
cars
retire
from
the
event.
In
fact,
it
was
a
shrewd
call
from
Maini’s
GetSpeed
racing
team
that
proved
to
make
the
difference
as
an
early
and
well-executed
pit-stop
saw
Maini
make
up
a
host
of
positions
over
the
duration
of
the
race
and
eventually
claim
his
best
result
in
the
grueling
German
race
series.

“Obviously
I’m
ecstatic
with
how
the
weekend
went,”
a
delighted
Maini
stated.
“It’s
been
a
long
timing
coming
and
I’m
happy
to
have
finally
scored
my
first
points
in
DTM.
Obviously,
a
lot
of
credit
has
to
go
to
the
team
at
GetSpeed,
I
think
our
pit-stop
was
the
second-fastest
of
the
weekend
and
if
it
wasn’t
for
their
tireless
effort,
this
result
would
not
have
been
possible.

“In
fact,
I
think
sixth
was
a
definite
possibility.
There
was
the
incident
with
Mike
Rockenfeller,
that
cost
us
a
lot
of
time
and
by
the
end
of
the
race,
I
was
gaining
on
Lucas
Auer
who
finished
only
a
second
ahead
of
me.

“Nonetheless
I
look
forward
to
the
next
round
at
the
Red
Bull
Ring
and
I
hope
this
weekend
proves
to
be
an
inflection
point
for
the
rest
of
the
season.”

The
next
race
weekend
is
scheduled
for
the
first
weekend
of
September,
3rd
to
the
5th,
and
will
take
place
at
the
Red
Bull
Ring
in
Austria.

Source:
Media
Release