F3: Maini musters a point at Monza

Rising Indian racer Arjun Maini managed a top 10 finish at Round 4 of the FIA European Formula 3 series here.

The three-race round event, which took place at the historic Monza circuit over the weekend, saw the 17-year-old from Bangalore add another point to his championship by finishing 10th in race one. He is now 13th in the championship out of <g data-gr-id="14">highly</g> competitive grid of 35 drivers from 17 countries.

Maini had a good qualifying session on Friday managing to put the car 13th overall, considering the lap was set without the help of a slipstream, which in a track like Monza can give you over 12 km/h down the straight, the result was quite impressive.

The qualifying set him up nicely for Race 1 and after a difficult start where he was boxed in on the inside line by the cars in front, Maini managed to claw back six positions to eventually finish 10th. The second and third races were cut short due to accidents and were run for a large part behind the safety car. Race <g data-gr-id="18">2 in particular</g> witnessed two big flips and several other accidents, which meant the race was red flagged before the 75 per cent mark. Maini was fortunate to avoid any damage to his car after he forced to take evasive action after Tatiana Calderon hit the wall and was pushed back into his path.