India’s Kush Maini ended the Italian F4 Championship season on a high with a podium finish in race 3 at the last race weekend in Monza. The 17-year-old secured points finishes in all three races of the final weekend, with sixth and seventh places in the other two races.
He finished the Italian F4 season in 9th place in the driver’s championship.
The Jenzer Motorsport driver began the weekend finishing fifth in both the practice sessions, within half a second off the session leaders. The qualifying sessions also shaped up similarly, with Maini’s times less than half a second off the pole-sitters.
The first race began in overcast conditions with feisty wheel to wheel racing, with Maini swapping places with Bhaitech driver Wahbeh throughout the race to eventually claim 6th position.
The second race at the iconic track in Monza began behind the safety car on a cold, foggy Sunday morning. The first few laps saw Maini fall back to 13th, trying to navigate the tough conditions. However, a strong fight back saw him jump six positions up to seventh in the 14-Lap race.
The third race saw Maini moving up into the top 5 by the second lap. Another successful battle with Wahbeh saw the Indian move into a podium position, but lost out late to Rodriguez to finish the race fourth. But a subsequent 25-second time penalty to the winner Armstrong pushed Maini into attaining his second podium finish of the season.
“A podium in the last race of the year is a nice way to end the season on a high. It’s been a season of ups and downs, I think I’ve showed some good pace throughout and was unlucky a few times to not finish better,” Maini was quoted as saying after the race in a release.
Kush is the younger brother of Arjun Maini who was signed up by Formula One team Haas earlier this year as a development driver.