Adria: It was a weekend to celebrate for Kush Maini as he secured a rookie podium finish in all his three races including the final race of the second round of the Italian F4 Championship to top the rookie drivers' championship with 91 points.
Kush's pace and determination to shine this weekend was on display as he blitzed through both free practice session finishing 3rd and 6th respectively, putting in a performance worthy of a seasoned campaigner. Having been assigned to Group 1, he put in extra effort to secure 5th in qualifying which classified him in Group A for the two races.
Race 1 for Kush was between Group A and B and the 25 minute race saw most of the drivers hold position till the chequered flag but Kush made a determined overtake with 10 minutes to go to finish 7th overall. Having started 8th, it was a good move because there were more races to come. This meant that among the rookies, he finished 2nd, securing his first podium of the weekend.
Race 2 saw him hold position, starting from 7th and finish just outside of the rookie podium places with a best time of 1:15.167. But an incorrect classification of one of the drivers above him as a rookie proved lucky for him because the penalty awarded to that driver pushed Kush up the grid and ultimately he secured a 3rd place on the rookie podium and finished 6th.
With two solid performances in the qualifying races, Kush locked a place in the final race that saw him put in a smooth drive and round off the weekend, holding his starting position of 10th but finish 2nd on the rookie podium once again. This brought his weekend rookie points tally to 51 points with the overall rookie points tally at 91 points, placing him on top of the rookie drivers' championship.
On his weekend performance, Kush had this to say, "This has been a wonderful weekend because of consecutive podiums through good race strategy. It's a long season and I didn't want to do too much by trying to overtake too early. Topping the driver's championship is the icing on the cake that is three successive rookie podium finishes.
Kush's next race is at the famed Imola track on the weekend of 27th-29th May, 2016.
