Motorsport: Arjun Maini Clinches Podium At DTM Round 7; Becomes First Indian To Secure A Pole Position

Arjun Maini from Mercedes-AMG Team HRT finished third in the first race at the Red Bull Ring to complete the double podium, making Maini the first Indian ever to qualify for first place on the grid in the DTM. Mercedes-AMG and Maro Engel maintained their title ambitions on the seventh and penultimate DTM race weekend of the season in Spielberg. The driver from Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD secured his seventh podium finish of this year's DTM season with second place on Saturday. 

Arjun Maini, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT said, “I had a good start on Saturday on the still-wet track, but unfortunately I didn't have the necessary pace. After the tyre change, things went much better on slicks, but the gap to the front was already too big. The podium feels good, but I would still have liked to have won after my first pole position. I'm very, very happy after the podium today, because I started from further back and it was a difficult race. Thanks to Mercedes-AMG Team HRT for providing me with a really fast car here all weekend.”

The Indian also put in a strong performance on Sunday, when he again finished third from eighth on the grid after a successful overcut. Maro Engel also scored valuable championship points with eighth place. He now heads to the season finale at Hockenheim 20 points behind the championship leader, with a total of 56 points still to be awarded. Mercedes-AMG extended its lead in the manufacturers' standings to 24 points thanks to this strong overall result.

The Mercedes-AMG GT3 demonstrated its potential right at the start of the weekend. In the first qualifying session on Saturday morning, Arjun Maini emerged as the man of the hour in challenging conditions on the drying track. The Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver completed his final lap with a time of 1m 30.128s and clinched the first pole position of his DTM career.

Title contender Maro Engel, 15 points behind the championship leader before the weekend, started Saturday's race from third position. With Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer on the third row of the grid, all four Mercedes-AMG drivers took on the race within the top six. The one-hour race in the afternoon also took place on drying asphalt, which is why all four Mercedes-AMG drivers initially opted for wet tyres. Maro Engel took the lead in the #130 on the very first lap, but had to relinquish it midway through the first stint due to the tyre pressure being too high and was placed in second position from then on. Shortly before the halfway point of the race, the track was dry enough to switch to slick tyres. Accordingly, the four Mercedes-AMG drivers came in early to change tyres after the pit stop window opened. 

Maro Engel was able to continuously make up ground on the first-placed driver and set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m 29.929s. However, it was not enough for a decisive attack. He finished the first race of the weekend in second place, 1.161 seconds behind the leader and in front of Arjun Maini, who claimed his second podium of the season. Maini's Mercedes-AMG Team HRT team-mate, Sachsenring winner Luca Stolz, took the chequered flag in fourth. Lucas Auer finished seventh in his home race in the #22 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER car, rounding off a very strong result for Mercedes-AMG.

Luca Stolz and Arjun Maini finished seventh and eighth in qualifying on Sunday. Lucas Auer secured tenth position on the grid, while Maro Engel started the race from 13th place. As on the previous day, Maro Engel got off to a good start in the race and made up two places during this phase.

With tarmac temperatures of around 20 degrees, the Mercedes-AMG Teams decided in favour of a late pit stop and opted for an overcut. This approach turned out to be the right strategy. When the pit stop window closed, Arjun Maini was in third position, which he successfully defended despite the cold tyres and ultimately brought home. Maro Engel worked his way up to eighth place, which earned him eight important championship points. Luca Stolz retired the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 early for safety reasons due to a technical issue. Lucas Auer also failed to see the chequered flag following a puncture.