GP3: Memorable debut for Arjun Maini

It was a great weekend for Arjun Maini at Silverstone racing — the same venue where Formula One British Grand Prix was held last week. Making his debut in the GP3, Arjun Maini had an absolutely brilliant qualifying session where he finished P4 inspite of having only two clear laps.

Arjun finished Race One in the eight position scoring four championship points on his very first race. He began Race Two from the pole position and on the very first lap. He was hit from the rear by Matt Parry causing a puncture forcing Arjun to pit for a tyre change. Parry was penalised with a delay of five seconds for causing a collision.

This put Arjun at the back of the field. He ended up posting the second quickest lap in Race Two.

Mahindra Racing’s Karun Chandhok took to social networking site Twitter to heap praise on Arjun. “Proud to see Arjun starting at the front of the grid today in front of all the F1 teams at Silverstone!” he wrote.

Said Arjun, “I could not have asked for a better start to my GP3 career. With a strong disadvantage of only 40 minutes of testing time this weekend, a reverse pole and a top 10 finish is much more than I could have dreamt off on debut.

“Clearly there were some learnings from this weekend which I will take away and come back stronger. The car and team were excellent and I look forward to exploring stronger opportunities on the GP3 Platform,” Arjun said.