Arjun Maini
Arjun Maini is an Indian racing driver, currently competing in the Asian Le Mans Series for RLR MSport team. He has previously also competed in FIA Formula 2 Championship with Trident Racing, as well as Campos Racing.
Early life
Maini comes from a family of racers. His brother Kush is also a racer competing in the Formula Renault Eurocup, and his father, Gautam, raced in the National Racing Championship in the late 1990s, at the Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine. The teenager first fell in love with motorsport when his father gave him an electric car. Maini received his first go-kart, an 80cc Comer Kart at the age of 5.Maini's uncle Chetan Maini is an Indian business magnate best known for building India's first electric car, REVA, and as the Founder of Reva Electric Car Company Ltd, now Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited, where he served as an advisor.
The teenager idolises Sebastian Vettel and in his free time enjoys wrestling, cycling, fitness activities and video editing.
Career
Maini received his first go-kart, an 80cc Comer Kart, at the age of 5.2007
At the young age of 8, Maini won his first two championships, the MRF Mini Max Championship in both the Rotax class and the 4-stroke Cadet class in his first year of racing. After his first titles, Maini raced on foreign soil for the first time in the Asia Max championship, which led to immediate success.2008
Maini became the youngest Indian to win a kart race abroad by winning the Malaysian Royal Kelatan Kart Prix held in 2008.2009
Maini was the youngest driver to take part in the J.K. Tyre Rotax Max Junior Max National championship at the age of 11. He was selected by the Red Rooster Racing Team in 2009.2010
Maini took part in the Rotax Max Challenge India - Junior in 2010 and finished in 2nd place. He finished with the most number of fastest laps.2011
Maini's major breakthrough came in 2011 where he won the J.K.Tyre Rotax Max National Karting Championship title in the Junior Max category and followed this up by becoming the Sahara Force India team's One from a Billion winner. He was also the winner of AKOC race in Macau as well as the Ask KF3 Race in Elite, Malaysia. He finished second overall in the AKS Malaysian Championship 2011.2012
Maini finished a creditable fifth in the ROK Cup International Final in Junior ROK category, at Lonato Italy against 72 of the best drivers from over 20 countries. Maini was awarded the best rookie at Rowrah while racing in the MSA British Karting Championship. He also finished a brilliant second place in Junior category in the Indonesia Kart Prix 2012 along with a first place in the Junior max category in Rotax Invitational Karting Race held at Kuala Lumpur.2013
Maini then stepped up into cars in 2013. He finished runner up in the J.K.Tyre Racing Series championship, winning two races at the Buddh International Circuit as well as winning the Malaysian Super 6 Series. He also competed in the WSK Euro and Master karting in the KF category.2014
He then went on to compete in the BRDC Formula 4 championship; finishing second overall and missing out on the championship by 3 points to teammate George Russell. He finished the championship with 8 wins and 9 podium finishes. He was also the highest ranked Indian driver in the Driver Database2015
Maini showed remarkable pace in the Toyota Racing series in New Zealand en route to a 4th overall in the championship with two wins, five podiums and 3 poles. He also finished 4th overall in Race 2 of the Pau Grand Prix. However a learning year in the FIA European Formula 3 series meant he could only manage 18th overall and 9th in the rookie class. Maini did manage to end the season on a high finishing 10th at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.2016
In 2016, Maini raced for Jenzer Motorsport in the GP3 series, he finished the season in 10th position in the championship despite missing the first 4 races. He also became the first Indian to secure a podium in the GP3 series at Hungaroring, after finishing 2nd. Maini also raced in the Macau GP for Team Motopark.2017
Maini signed for Jenzer Motorsport again, for his second stint in the GP3 series.In May 2017, it was announced that Haas F1 team signed Maini as development driver.
Maini did a post season test in Abu Dhabi with F2 teams Trident and Russian Time.
2018
Maini signed for Trident Racing in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship and he also remained in his role as Haas's development driver.2019
Maini changed from single seaters to Endurance racing in the European Le Mans Series with RLR M SPORT. He also competed in the prestigious 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as competing in the Asian Le Mans Series where he won the First race at Shanghai International Circuit.Aside from this Arjun Maini also competed in the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship with Campos Racing for three rounds.
Racing record
Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | DC | Points |
| 2015 | Van Amersfoort Racing | Volkswagen | SIL 1 Ret | SIL 2 14 | SIL 3 16 | HOC 1 15 | HOC 2 Ret | HOC 3 13 | PAU 1 12 | PAU 2 4 | PAU 3 5 | MNZ 1 10 | MNZ 2 20 | MNZ 3 20 | SPA 1 17 | SPA 2 23 | SPA 3 16 | NOR 1 Ret | NOR 2 14 | NOR 3 17 | ZAN 1 13 | ZAN 2 15 | ZAN 3 17 | RBR 1 21 | RBR 2 15 | RBR 3 22 | ALG 1 28 | ALG 2 24 | ALG 3 16 | NÜR 1 8 | NÜR 2 12 | NÜR 3 16 | HOC 1 29 | HOC 2 14 | HOC 3 17 | 18th | 27 |
| 2016 | Threebond with T-Sport | Threebond | LEC 1 Ret | LEC 2 13 | LEC 3 16 | 21st | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Threebond with T-Sport | NBE | HUN 1 14 | HUN 2 15 | HUN 3 15 | PAU 1 18 | PAU 2 10 | PAU 3 9 | RBR 1 Ret | RBR 2 Ret | RBR 3 18 | NOR 1 | NOR 2 | NOR 3 | ZAN 1 | ZAN 2 | ZAN 3 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | SPA 3 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | NÜR 3 | IMO 1 | IMO 2 | IMO 3 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | HOC 3 | 21st | 3 |
Complete GP3 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
| 2016 | Jenzer Motorsport | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | RBR FEA | RBR SPR | SIL FEA 8 | SIL SPR 19 | HUN FEA 8 | HUN SPR 2 | HOC FEA 7 | HOC SPR 5 | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 16 | MNZ FEA 14 | MNZ SPR 6 | SEP FEA 4 | SEP SPR 7 | YMC FEA 14 | YMC SPR 14 | 10th | 50 |
| 2017 | Jenzer Motorsport | CAT FEA 7 | CAT SPR 1 | RBR FEA 10 | RBR SPR 16 | SIL FEA 6 | SIL SPR 5 | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR 8 | SPA FEA 4 | SPA SPR 6 | MNZ FEA 16† | MNZ SPR C | JER FEA 17 | JER SPR 12 | YMC FEA 3 | YMC SPR 6 | 9th | 72 |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | DC | Points |
| Trident | BHR FEA 15 | BHR SPR 14 | BAK FEA Ret | BAK SPR 5 | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR 13 | MON FEA 5 | MON SPR 5 | LEC FEA 10 | LEC SPR 13 | RBR FEA 14 | RBR SPR 10 | SIL FEA 14 | SIL SPR 13 | HUN FEA 12 | HUN SPR 14 | SPA FEA 14 | SPA SPR 8 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 9 | SOC FEA 15 | SOC SPR 15 | YMC FEA Ret | YMC SPR DNS | 16th | 24 | |
| Campos Racing | BHR FEA | BHR SPR | BAK FEA | BAK SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MON SPR | LEC FEA | LEC SPR | RBR SPR DSQ | RBR SPR 15 | SIL FEA 13 | SIL SPR 13 | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR 16 | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | SOC FEA | SOC SPR | YMC FEA | YMC SPR | 24th | 0 |
Complete European Le Mans Series results
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Rank | Points |
| 2019 | RLR MSport | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | LEC 8 | MNZ Ret | CAT 13 | SIL Ret | SPA 14 | ALG 15 | 21st | 5.5 |