Bengaluru’s Arjun Maini claimed his first podium with the Ford Mustang GT3 after finishing 3rd in a hard fought race at Norisring DTM series round in Germany. Arjun, driving for the HRT Ford Racing Team also qualified 3rd on Saturday.
Another 3rd place podium finish for Indian driver Kush Maini (ART GP) in the Silverstone F2 race in Great Britain,
India’s Kush Maini driving (BWT Alpine Academy /ART GP) qualifies 3rd fastest for F2 race in Silverstone. Excerpts of F2 Post Qualifying Press Conference with Kush MainiFIA Formula 2: Kush coming to you, extremely tight margins out there today just missing out on P2 how was that session for you? Kush Maini: Yeah I think obviously run one first lap I was happy with. I think we were P1 and Alex did a good lap on the second lap and I really didn’t have the grip so going into the second set I knew it was going to be tight between at least a couple of us and I think the lap was good until sector three. I think sector three I didn’t really put it together, the car was great today and a bit from my side there in sector three I don’t know if it would have been good enough for pole but definitely a lot closer but still you know top three in a Championship like F2 I mean sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’re first or third at the start you know. So it puts me in a decent position as well for tomorrow to get points in both races and I’m generally happy. FIA Formula 2: You’d mentioned sector three I actually was going to ask you about that do you know like exactly what happened in the lap? Maini: Yeah I just missed into Stowe, did the wet line basically. I was missing the rubber so for sure a bit lost there but I mean if you ask these two guys, I’m sure they can pick out places where they could have done better so. FIA Formula 2: If you had to put it all together, do you think pole was possible today? Maini: Probably but then he will say he can go another tenth or two quicker so it’s the same story, I think.
Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini (IND) secures his third Formula 2 victory in the Barcelona Sprint Race.
Tamil movie star Ajith Kumar’s team Ajith Kumar Racing by BKR gets a full season entry for the world 24H Series for 2025.
Actor Ajith Kumar announced his plans to resume racing with the Dubai 24hrs driving a Porsche
Jehan Daruvala creates history by becoming the first Indian to take victory in the new FIA European F3 Series held at Norisring, Germany. The young rookie took victory in the final race of the weekend beating experienced home driver Maximilian Gunther who was on pole. Jehan beat Gunther right at the start and even before the first corner and never looked back. The race was incident pack with many full-course yellow flags and at one point Jehan had a 1 second lead over Gunther but an incident involving Mick Schumacher and Pedro Piquet brought the first full-course yellow bringing Gunther closer. During the restart Gunther tried to attack Jehan but the determined Sahara Force India Academy driver never gave any room for overtaking and won the race with a 0.4secs gap. Jehan Daruvala said “It feels brilliant to get my first F3 win. I have been quick all weekend & it finally came together this race. I knew the start was crucial, so I focused a lot on that. Once I had Max at the start, I just had to ensure that I made no mistakes. The pressure was immense through the race, but I was enjoying myself. I must thank the team for a fantastic car all weekend & everyone else around me who have been instrumental in my success.” The next round for Jehan will be at Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium on July 29-30.
Mahindra Racing was the first Indian manufacturer to get into MotoGP world championships in the 125cc class in 2011. They got their first pole in the historic last ever 125cc race in Valencia in 2011. The shifted to 4strokes 250cc as the series shifted to Moto3 the following year and Mahindra was grabbing frequent points with their riders and in 2013 they got their first ever podium in Assen with Miguel Oliveira. In 2015 they got frequent podium after merging with the Aspar team and finally in 2016 they grabbed their historic first victory again in Assen (DutchGP) with Francesco Bagnaia and also raked 2 more victories, one in Czech GP with co partner Peugeot Team and another in Malaysia again with Bagnaia. Mahindra signed up with world champion Max Biaggi as their team manager in 2017 but their performance dropped considerably this year. While midway through the season in Assen they announced their withdrawal from motorcycle racing due to shift of focus into electrical mobility solutions and racing with Formula E. So far since 2011, Mahindra Racing bikes have achieved 2 pole positions, 3 wins and 13 podiums. Here is video showcasing the birth and successes of Mahindra Racing Team
Indian racer Karun Chandhok continued his LeMans 24hrs pursuit again this year and finished 10th in the LMP2 category. Karun drove for the debutant team Tockwith Motorsports along with team owner Nigel Moore and Le Mans rookie Phil Hanson. Karun said“A big thank you to my supporters from the AVT Group as well as Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson who were fun team mates to work with. A special thanks to all the engineers and mechanics at Tockwith Motorsport who worked tirelessly for the whole three weeks in the build up to Le Mans. Most importantly a quick shout out to all my fans who had nothing but positive messages, be it in person, or through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. There was a huge campsite here full of Indian fans and it was such an honour to see the Indian tri-colour out in the grandstands to support me.”
Mumbai lad Jehan Daruvala grabbed another podium and a rookie class win at the Hungarian round of the European F3 series held in Budapest. The Force India Academy driver finished 3rd overall in race1 while also taking the victory in the rookie category. “I am happy to have made it onto the podium again here. Towards the halfway point, I was given a warning for track limit infringements, so I was a little bit more cautious after that. I didn’t want to risk a penalty. Then, I hoped for Jake to make a mistake in front of me, but he didn’t give me that pleasure. I also had to keep an eye on Mawson who had closed right up” said Jehan Race 2 & Race 3 saw Jehan qualify ninth & tenth respectively, after he took time to adjust to the high cross wind situation at the circuit during qualifying. The tight nature of the circuit meant Jehan could do little in terms of moving up the order. He moved up a place in each race to finish eight & ninth in the two races which also became rookie podiums second and third respectively. Jehan moves up sixth overall in the points table to and remains second in the Rookie standings with 212 points. The FIA F3 European Championship moves to the street circuit of Norisring in Germany on the 1st & 2nd of July.
