Arjun Maini secured the first pole position of his DTM career in a spectacular qualifying at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. After many changes at the top of the timings sheet, it was the Mercedes-AMG driver who held his nerve in Saturday morning’s session and clocked the fastest time of 1:30.128 minutes on his final lap. The Indian will now start race 13 of this season’s DTM from the front of the grid for the first time.
“That was really crazy, because my radio was not working so I did not know the result at first. I tried to see the times on the screens around the track. However, they were too far away. Pole position feels incredible. I can enjoy the moment for a few hours, until the race starts,” said Maini after his fine display in Spielberg.
Temperatures of 10 degrees and a track that was still damp in places greeted the drivers for the first qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring. Many drivers initially took to the 4.318-kilometre circuit on wet-weather tyres, before then switching to the Pirelli slicks.
The lead seemingly changed hands every second, with the Mercedes-AMG drivers always there or thereabouts. Shortly before the end, Lamborghini racer Paul moved to the top of the timings sheet and looked set to secure pole, before Maini posted the fastest time on his final lap.
The DTM grid is a Highly competitive grid of 20 Drivers representing all the manufacturers from Mercedes AMG, BMW, Audi, McLaren, Ferrari , Porshe and Lamborghini. Most of these drivers also drive in the GT3 World Endurance Championships across the Globe as well as the 24 hours of Nürburgring .
The races are held across Europe over 8 rounds comprising of 2 Qualifying Sessions and 2 Races over each round.
Arjun celebrates podium-finish by bringing out the Tri-colour
Arjun made a brilliant start to the race and was side-by-side with Maro Engel who then took the lead of the race. While the pace after the pit stop was very good and Maini was able to pull away by 12 seconds over P4. He had to be content with P3 which was the second Podium of the Season. Mirko Bortolotti had very good pace and was able to finish in P1.
“The Conditions were very tricky as it was a Drying track and we were on wet weather tyres. We pitted a lap later and was in a net P4 position by the time all the cars had pitted. Was able to Pass Luca and consolidate the P3 position with a much better pace on the slicks. Overall it was great to be back on the Podium. I want to thank Mercedes AMG team HRT for giving me a great car and I look forward to keeping the momentum.”
Race 2 will take place on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
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