Arjun Maini misses podium finish in DTM Championship
In only his third race of the 2022 DTM Championship, Arjun Maini, racing for Mercedes-AMG with team HRT, almost earned his first podium of the season. Maini made a strong start and moved into fourth place on the opening lap of the race after starting sixth in a very tough qualifying session.
After a fast pit break, he temporarily moved into third place, ahead of Lucas Auer. However, due to his cooler tires, Maini dropped to fourth, a position he would hold until the checkered flag.
The 2022 DTM championship will include 29 drivers, making it not only the biggest grid in DTM history but also one of the most competitive, with some of the top GT3 drivers in the world competing. Because of the competitive nature of the event, 21 cars qualified within one second of the pole in Qualifying 1, and 23 cars qualified within a second of the pole in Qualifying 2.
Maini's second qualifying session was hampered by a Red Flag with four minutes remaining, and the Indian had yet to post a lap time when the session was called off. He qualified 14th and lost a few positions after he fell off on one of the bends while fighting side by side with several other cars.
Arjun Maini, Mercedes-AMG GT3 #36, said: “It was a mixed weekend for me. P6 in qualifying and P4 in the race on Saturday. We had a good pace and a good pit stop. There was then a turbulent qualifying on Sunday, which meant I ended up starting from down in P14. In the end, I came home 13th, not ideal, but I feel positive looking ahead to Imola.”
“I want to thank OSM (Omega Seiki Mobility) for Supporting me in this extremely competitive series”. The next DTM Race Weekend will be held on June 18th and 19th, 2022, in Imola, Italy.
In India, the FIA Formula 3 championship will be shown live on Star Sports Select HD2, while the DTM championship will be aired live on Eurosport.