Indian driver Arjun Maini secured his maiden GP3 podium in Hungary in his second weekend in the series, becoming the first Indian racing driver to finish a GP3 race on the podium since the series commenced in 2010.
The 19-year old started race one from ninth place on the grid and finished eighth, which granted him the all important reverse-grid pole position for two - similar to the previous round in Silverstone.
At the start of race two, second-placed Alexander Albon managed to pass Arjun at the start, and immediately pull out a gap. The Indian then had to fend off Charles Leclerc - his former teammate from Formula 3. Leclerc was cautious not get embroiled in an incident and in a bid to post the fastest laptime of the race for extra points, decided against mounting an attack on Arjun. This allowed Arjun to finish second with plenty of room to breathe.
“I've had quite a tough time the last two seasons and coming here I've already learned a lot. I work with really good people. I've got to thank my sponsors without whom I wouldn't be here: JK Tyre, TVS and of course my parents", said Arjun.
"It's been a really good experience. I think it's a fantastic series for young drivers. You need to be able to adapt quickly here. The Pirelli tyres really teach you to extract what you can from there which is a great learning curve", he added.
Unnatee Gidithuri
