BENGALURU: At Hockenheimring, the endurance round of the 2022 GT World Challenge Europe saw a lot of action and a lot of safety car interruptions. Arjun Maini, a racer from Bengaluru, and HRT teammates Hubert Haupt (Germany) and Florian Scholze (Germany) were able to maintain their composure amid the chaos to secure their dream second podium finish of the season in the gold class.
Arjun, a 25-year-old driver who has competed in Formula 2, GP3, and the World Endurance Championship.
, claims that his transition from single-seat prototypes to GT racing was more challenging than he anticipated. Despite the fact that it was more difficult than I anticipated, I moved quickly. Given the results to date, it turned out perfectly, he says.
Arjun has returned to the city for a much-needed break after spending nearly a year racing in Europe. Every time you go back home, it’s amazing. I would prefer to live anywhere else.
Arjun grew up watching Michael Schumacher’s strength in Equation 1 with Ferrari in the mid ’00s, which motivated him to take up dashing at eight years old. He quickly proved that he could compete in karts, winning championships and wins, and he was regarded as a potential F1 talent. After moving on to cars, he maintained his winning streak despite ever-increasing odds.
He lost to his then-teammate and current Mercedes F1 driver George Russell by just three points in his first season in Formula 4. He eventually made it to GP3 and F2. However, despite being exceptional at times, the outcomes ceased to be consistent. Arjun frequently struggled with his race pace because he was saddled with some of the slowest machinery on the grid. Sometimes you don’t know if it’s you or your machine that’s losing. As a result, it’s very hard,” he says.
Arjun’s performances frequently went unnoticed despite constantly competing for points. His time in Formula 2 was uneventful, with the exception of a victory and a few podium finishes. His hopes of competing in Formula One were dashed when he left F2 in 2019. He tried endurance racing for a while, participating in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hour alongside drivers like Fernando Alonso, who has won the Formula One world championship twice. The politics in F2 really bothered me. I needed to return to the sort of dashing we did in junior formulae,” he shares. ” I’m still infatuated with the game. But Formula One is no longer a dream.
Arjun has intimate knowledge of the strengths of several current Formula One drivers because he raced with them in junior formulae.
Which of George Russell and Charles Leclerc is more likely to win the battle that will take place next year? They are very similar. However, I would wager on Russell. ‘I was really eager to declare that I would do F2
The sensational 2012 F1 Brazilian GP was an activity stuffed and emotional race that is associated with being Michael Schumacher’s last race. Narain Karthikeyan, who made his grand prix debut seven years earlier, was India’s first F1 driver, and the Sao Paulo race was also his final race. The nation has been waiting for another driver to represent the country at the highest level of motorsports since then.
Nearly five national drivers have progressed through the junior formulae ladder over the past decade, but none of them have earned a spot in Formula One. One of them was Arjun Maini, who won the One in a Billion Driver Hunt in 2011. However, despite his promising stints in Formula 2 and GP3, Maini did not make a lasting impression.