Arjun Maini and team HRT finish runners-up in GT World Endurance Championship Europe for Bronze Class

Hubert Haupt and Sebastian Baud were the other members that drove the Mercedes AMG GT3.

The last 3 hours of the Endurance race of the GT World Challenge – Europe was held at Barcelona on Sunday with a field of 54 cars covering several categories of GT3 cars. All the brands from Mercedes, BMW, Audi, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porche could be found competing across all categories in what would conclude the Championship for the Endurance Series.

Arjun Maini, Hubert Haupt and Sebastian Baud driving their #79 Mercedes AMG GT3 had a good start by Hubert Haupt and came into the pits one lap earlier than anticipated due to the full course yellow situation on the track. Many cars dived into the pits and in the mayhem that occurred, the team lost 20 seconds in the pits and lost 6 positions due to that once the safety car had come in a few laps later.

Sebastian was in the car for the next stint and was able to recover two positions before handing it over to Arjun who is the Professional Driver in the team. The last hour saw many interruptions due to FCY situations and consequent safety cars; however, Arjun ensured a very strong stint to recover to P4 in the Bronze Class in the race and keep the car P2 in the overall Endurance Championship for the Bronze Class.

In the end it was extremely close with team HRT (92 points) only four points behind the winner and two points ahead of P3 as can be seen from the final results.

Following the race, Arjun Maini said, “It was an amazing season but a bittersweet end in terms of results to an otherwise strong campaign. We had our wins and podiums and were really looking forward to winning the Endurance Championship in the Bronze category which had 16 teams that were classified, and more teams ran on certain races. The competition was tough throughout, but we strongly believed in our abilities to have won the Championship."

"Racing is a team event and everything has to go right for the win. We did not have luck on our side during the first pitstop and had to then really fight hard to recover and at least settle for second in the Championship. I would really like to thank team HRT and the entire crew for getting us this far in the Championship.

"I thank my teammates Hubert Haupt and Sebastian Baud. We thank Mercedes AMG for being with us all the way. Also thank Omega Seiki Mobility for supporting us in this journey. I am confident that the Championship win is not far away, and we will back next year.”