Indian racing driver Arjun Maini (Mercedes-AMG Team Getspeed) finishes Race 1 of DTM Red Bull Ring in sixth after qualifying third on the grid. The race had tight battles and wheel to wheel action throughout with Maini being in the middle of a few of them. Maini was under pressure from the start of the race and with a delayed pit stop, he had his work cut out for him. But in the hour of need, Maini displayed maturity and proved to be difficult for his rivals to get past. This is Maini’s best finish in DTM so far. After the sixth-place finish and the P3 start, Maini walks home with nine points from the race.
At the start of the race, Maini lost two positions in the opening lap at turn 3 but managed to get the position back from Sheldon Van Der Linde (Rowe Racing) and Philip Ellis (Mercedes-AMG Team Winward). He held on to the position thereafter and also created a gap between himself and the hungry pack behind him.
But the gap made by the Indian went in vain after the Getspeed team took 11.75 seconds to complete the pitstop. He pitted on lap seven and fell down to a potential fourth place because of the additional time taken.
As the race progressed to lap 21, Maini started to struggle on race pace and this allowed the cars behind to catch up to him. Maini kept three-time DTM race winner Kelvin Van Der Linde (Team ABT Sportsline) behind him for three laps, driving a defensive line on the track but in the end, he lost the podium position in turn 3. Linde was followed by Albon, who also had to break more than a sweat to get past the Indian driver.
In the end, Maini was able to keep a charging Marco Wittmann (Walkenhorst Motorsport) behind and came home sixth. The race was won by Liam Lawson (Red Bull AF Corse) followed by Maximilian Gotz (Mercedes-AMG Team HRT) and Philip Ellis. Maini was able to showcase his ability to manage race pace under pressure while aggressively defending his position. He has another chance at the second DTM race at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday to try and take his first DTM podium. Race 2 of DTM will start at 5pm on September 5. Stay tuned for more updates on the 2021 DTM season.