New Haas development driver Arjun Maini has claimed his first GP3 win in the sprint race at Barcelona.
The Jenzer driver led all 17 laps to take the team’s first win since Patric Niederhauser’s feature win at Hockenheim in 2012, 1758 days ago.
Maini had a much better getaway from the grid compared to polesitter Raoul Hyman, claimed the lead on the start-finish straight and never looked back despite pressure from Dorian Boccolacci.
The Trident driver took his first podium in second place, six seconds behind, attacking Maini early on before the Indian created a gap.
Alessio Lorandi completed the podium to give Jenzer two drivers on one podium for the first time in GP3 after a combined 346 starts for its drivers.
ART’s Anthoine Hubert finished fourth ahead of Mercedes and Honda proteges George Russell and Nirei Fukuzumi, while Hyman fell to seventh as he continued to drop throughout the race.
Haas-backed Santino Ferrucci claimed the final point in eighth place. Kevin Joerg and Julien Falchero completed the top ten.
Giuliano Alesi, the son of ex-Formula 1 driver Jean, was 11th, while Renault junior Jack Aitken, who retired from the feature race with a sensor issue, rose from 19th on the grid to 12th.
Arden’s Leonardo Pulcini could only finish 17th from seventh on the grid after early front wing damage that forced him to pit.
Sauber’s Tatiana Calderon continued to have a miserable weekend as the only retirement of the race on Lap 12.
