Arjun Maini endures frustrating weekend in Netherlands
Sep 20, 2021
Assen [Netherlands], September 20 : Mercedes-AMG DTM driver Arjun Maini endured a difficult weekend at the Assen race circuit in Holland. The Indian, who secured his best-ever finish of sixth during the previous round, experienced one of those weekends where nothing seemed to want to come together despite his best efforts.
The Omega Seiki and JK Tyre-backed driver started the weekend promisingly, claiming fourth overall during the second free practice session of the weekend. However, an extremely tight qualifying session meant Maini could only manage 13th overall despite setting a time that was only .412 tenths off the pole sitters' lap time.
Things went from bad to worse as a poor start from championship leader Liam Lawson caused a concertina effect with several cars hitting each other as Lawson's Ferrari failed to get off the line cleanly. Maini was one of the drivers involved in the incident, meaning his race was over before even it started in what was a bitterly disappointing moment for the Indian driver.
Qualifying 2 once again saw Maini display his strong pace over a single lap as the Indian topped the timing sheets for a considerable amount of time during the session. Unfortunately, the Indian was deemed to have started his final timed lap fractionally after the checkered flag dropped meaning his lap time which was good enough for 8th on the grid was deleted and the Mercedes-AMG driver once again had to make do with a lowly starting position of 16th instead of the eighth he initially secured.
Despite the setback, Maini made a great getaway making his way up the order and into the points before coming in for his mandatory pitstop, the Indian then struggled for pace during the second half and found himself finishing the race in 13th.
"I'm honestly at a loss to explain our lack of pace during Race 2," Maini stated in an official release.
"We were definitely compromised by our lack of running but neither the team nor I expected the drop-off to be so severe. It's something we're looking into and hopefully, we can understand what went wrong today. The next round takes place at one of my favorite tracks on the calendar and I'm confident we can get back into the points," he added.
A rookie racing for a brand new team in the ultra-competitive DTM championship was always going to represent a challenge for both the driver and team. Nevertheless, Maini and GetSpeed have acquitted themselves well over the course of the season so far and a return to the Hockenheim race circuit should benefit the pair.
The next round of the DTM season takes place on October 1-3, 2021.
