Arjun Maini to drive for HRT in GT World Challenge Europe

Indian racer Arjun Maini will drive for Haupt Racing Team (HRT) in this season's Endurance Cup of the GT World Challenge Europe, which begins next month. HRT will contest its third season in the championship with three cars.

The team from Meuspath will field two Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the Silver Cup class of the endurance series, which features a top-class field. The third car will battle for points and podiums in the new Gold Cup class. The GTWCE calendar consists of five rounds in total, with the highlight of the season being the legendary 24Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Team owner Hubert Haupt and Florian Scholze of Germany and Maini will take the wheel of the 5 HRT GT3 car. The trio will be making its debut in the new Gold Cup, which replaces the previous Am class in the GTWCE Endurance competition.

To be eligible for this class, the cockpit must be occupied by one Pro (Arjun Maini), one Silver (Hubert Haupt) and one Bronze (Floian Scholze) driver. A total of five race weekends make up the calendar for the Endurance Cup in the GT World Challenge Europe. After official tests on March 7 and 8 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France, the first race of the new season will be held from April 1 to 3 at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy.

The rest of the season features a further four endurance races -- from June 3 to 5 in southern France at Circuit Paul Ricard, followed by the iconic 24 Hours of Spa (July 28 to July 31). The penultimate weekend of the GTWCE season is from September 2 to 4 at the Hockenheimring, before Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosts the season finale from September 30 to October 2. "I am very grateful to Mercedes-AMG and to HRT for this opportunity. Complementing my DTM program with the GTWCE is very good for me and I am very motivated for this challenge," Maini said in a release.

"I believe that at HRT I have the right team supporting me and together with Hubert and Florian we can do a good job. We have already two official test days next week at Paul Ricard to start preparing the first race in Imola."