Arjun Maini recently represented the nation with Racing Team India at the 2021 Asian LeMans Series. It was then confirmed that along with Narain Karthikeyan and Naveen Rao, the trio will represent India in a first-ever all-Indian driver line up at this year’s 24 Hours of LeMans. Now, Maini has been confirmed to be the first Indian driver in history to get a full-time race seat in the German Touring Car Championship, better known as DTM. Maini is now the first Indian to compete in DTM full-time.
For the 2021 DTM season, Maini will be driving the Mercedes-AMG GT3 race car for the Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed. GetSpeed Performance operates from the business park at the Nürburgring and will line up in the DTM in the 2021 season. The 23-year-old driver will race in 8 rounds with 16 races this season which will be held in Germany and Europe.
Maini stated “My first real experience of the [DTM] championship came in 2015 when I was competing in Formula 3 and we drove on the same weekend as DTM. The Atmosphere was something I had never experienced before. I feel privileged to finally live out one of my dreams. The series enjoys a fine reputation around the world and is the perfect opportunity for me to test myself against rapid GT3 drivers.”
Martin Schwenk, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India also reached out to show his excitement. He stated, “It’s a moment of immense pride and excitement for us at Mercedes-Benz India, that Arjun Maini is participating in the upcoming 2021 DTM season.”
Maini hopes that this venture into DTM will be a long and successful partnership between him and Mercedes-AMG.
The DTM Series will feature the GT3 cars for the first time this year. A race weekend round will consist of two practice sessions on Friday, followed by qualifying and a one hour race with one pit stop on Saturday and then again on Sunday. The season will kick-off between June 18-20th at Monza for the round in Italy. It will then move to Norisring (2-4 July), Lausitzring (23-25 July), Zolder (6-8 August), Nürburgring (20-22 August), Red Bull Ring (3-5 September) and Assen (17–19 September). To conclude the season, the season finale will be held from October 1-3 around the Hockenheimring.
