Arjun Maini will contest the prestigious Macau Grand Prix with the British team, T-Sport. The 17-year-old lad from Bengaluru, who contested the European F3 Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, switches team for the historic race, hoping to replicate the performance in his first street race earlier this year, at the Pau street circuit in France.
The Macau Grand Prix, though not included in the regular championship calendar, is considered the flagship race for F3 racers around the world. The event is part of a wider motorsport festival in the region that sees various races taking place on the same weekend.
The event has been previously won by legends such as Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher and has seen the likes of Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel on the podium.
Arjun, who is supported by J K Tyre, was one of the three drivers shortlisted by Sahara Force India’s talent hunt competition few years ago. In 2014, Arjun finished runner-up in BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) F4 championships before moving into the European F3 season for 2015.
Team boss Russell Eacott was quite enthusiastic about having Arjun on board and said, “We are all happy here at ThreeBond with T-Sport to have Arjun driving with us for this year’s race. He has shown at this season’s Pau Grand Prix that he likes street races and the Macau Grand Prix is the world’s ultimate street race. As a Macau rookie we realise it will be a tough challenge but not impossible to get a good result.”
Good opportunity for Arjun: Karun Chandhok
Ex-Formula One driver Karun Chandhok, who is also Arjun’s mentor, added, “Arjun has had a bit of an up and down season with Van Amersfoort. They've historically been very good but for a variety of reasons we decided it would be good for Arjun to do some running with other people. Macau is the Crown Jewel of the junior single-seater ladder and is a good opportunity to get a strong result to end the season.”
Arjun said, “I’m quite excited to be working with a new team for this race. The track is going to be a completely different challenge to Pau, as there are quite a few long straights with some extremely fast corners thrown into the mix. T-Sport have had quite a few really good results here and I’m sure if we can work together there’s no reason why we can’t bring home a good result. We had a two-day Test in Silverstone to simulate the set-up at Macau and I was happy with the testing.”
The race is scheduled to take place between November 19 and 22.
