GP3: Arjun Maini forced to retire after rear wing fails at Monza

Starting Round 6 in the 2017 GP3 Series, Arjun Maini was eighth in the lone practice at Monza, a mere 0.439s off ART’s Nirei Fukuzumi on Friday afternoon.

It was one of the rare occasions that practice became an important session, after Saturday morning qualifying was cancelled due to torrential downpour.

As a result, Fukuzumi took pole from ART teammates George Russell, Anthoine Hubert and Jack Aitken, while Maini was eighth ahead of Jenzer teammate Alessio Lorandi.

Race

The Saturday's feature race was postponed to Sunday morning due to poor weather conditions at Monza, with the sprint race cancelled for the weekend.

In a bright sunny morning on Sunday, the start of the lone race saw a collision between Lorandi and Arden's Leonardo Pulcini - bringing out the safety car.

Meanwhile, Maini was caught up in the melee to drop down to 14th until the re-start, when he made his way up to eighth, battling with new teammate Juan Manuel Correa.

In the tussle for positions, the Italian lost control and ramped into the back of the Indian driver going into Turn 1, damaging the Jenzer car heavily.

After a VSC to clear Correa's car, Maini jumped to fifth upon re-start, but the Indian started to lose positions with the troubled rear wing.

Eventually, his wing went lose forcing him to dive into the pits and retire. He was classified as 16th, as he finished more than 90 percent of the race.

Up front, the ART teammates were in a battle among themselves with Mercedes junior Russell winning in the end from Aitken and Hubert.

After six rounds in the championship, Russell heads teammate Aitken in the drivers' standings, while is Maini in ninth with 53 points.

The championship now heads to Jerez during the October 7-8 weekend for Round 7 in the 2017 season.

[Image courtesy: GP3 Media Service] #GP3 #Monza #Jenzer #Motorsport #Italy #smalltribesrule