Indian sports wrap, April 1: Arjun Maini to race for Ford-powered team in new DTM season

Indian sports wrap, April 1: Arjun Maini to race for Ford-powered team in new DTM season

India’s Arjun Maini will drive for the HRT Ford Performance team in his fifth year in the German touring car racing series.

Last year, Maini had secured the best result of his DTM career by finishing seventh in the drivers’ standings. In the previous three seasons (from 2021 to 2023), the 27-year-old from Bengaluru had finished 12th, 19th and 20th, respectively.

The official test day for the new DTM season will take place at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben on Wednesday.

Haupt Racing Team (HRT) enters two Ford Mustang GT3s in the top-class sprint series for the first time this year. The cockpits for Ford’s factory-supported DTM comeback after 36 years will be occupied by Maini and Fabio Scherer.

The opening race weekend is scheduled from April 25-27.

Maini has been competing successfully for HRT in various racing series since 2022 and achieved three podium finishes and one pole position in the DTM with the team last season. The Indian has made a total of 64 appearances in the prestigious sprint series to date.

-PTI

The Super 6 and head-to-head round of the Yuva All Stars Championship concluded on Tuesday, with the top three teams from the group and the loser of the head-to-head round qualifying for the playoffs.

Yuva Mumba, Sonipat Spartans, and Warriorz K.C. won their respective matches in the last set of Super 6 matches at the Vandana Kataria Indoor Stadium in Haridwar.

Yuva Mumba defeated the Junior Steelers 48-26 to earn a spot in the playoffs, while Sonipat Spartans defeated Palani Tuskers 44-33 to set up an eliminator clash against Warriorz K.C.

Warriorz beat Chandigarh Chargers 51-34, riding on the back of Nitin Singh’s 10 raid points.

The playoff round will include four matches – two eliminators, one semifinal, and a final. The loser of the head-to-head round will take on the third-placed team in the Super 6 round in Eliminator 1, while the top two teams from Super 6 will lock horns with each other in Eliminator 2. Both eliminators will be played on April 2.

The winner of Eliminator 1 and the winner of Eliminator 2 will face each other in the semifinal on Thursday. The winner of the clash will lock horns against the head-to-head winner in the final on Friday.

The head-to-head match between Jaipur Pink Cubs and Yuva Yoddhas was cancelled as the Pink Cubs had won two matches and booked a berth in the summit clash of the Yuva All Stars Championship 2025.

-Team Sportstar

Local lad Saptak Talwar overcame an indifferent start to execute a spectacular front nine in jumping to a joint lead with Sri Lankan N Thangaraj, with a five-under 67 on the opening day of the Rs. 1.5 crore Adani invitational golf championship at the Jaypee Greens and Spa Resort on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Saptak had two bogeys on the back nine and a birdie to be one-over. Thereafter, he had an eagle and four birdies in the first six holes, as his game roared to life. He stayed on par thereafter to be in the lead, one shot ahead of four others.

“I was adjusting to the greens here,” reasoned Saptak about his slow start.

Thangaraja, who had won one of the PGTI events last month, had a bogey free day, as he sank five birdies.

“The course feels a little longer than the last time I played here in 2013. It will require good driving and putting to score well here,” said Thangaraja.

Om Prakash Chouhan, Arjun Prasad, Md. Somrat Sikdar and Sunhit Bishnoi were breathing down the neck of the leaders, a shot away at four-under 68.

Yuvraj Sandhu and Shaurya Bhattacharya, two other champions in the events earlier, were tied 10th at two-under 70.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Top seeds Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth were beaten 6-2, 6-0 by wild card entrants Andrea Vavassori and Matteo Vavassori in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €145,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Menorca, Spain.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Rabiah Dullet beat second seed Adya Chaurasia 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the girls’ pre-quarterfinals of the Asian under-16 tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Tuesday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Published on Apr 01, 2025