F3: Maini quits T-Sport F3 campaign

Indian racer Arjun Maini and the T-Sport team have called time on their Formula 3 European Championship program after a disastrous start to the season.

Maini, 18, finished 10th in last November's Macau Grand Prix on his debut with the team, and was expected to score good results in 2016. He started the season at Paul Ricard with the new ThreeBond/Tomei engine that had powered him in Macau, before the team made an immediate reversion to the NBE powerplant it had used throughout the 2014 and '15 seasons. But Maini's best result over the opening four rounds is a ninth place in Pau.

The split means that T-Sport – which has operated as a one-car team this season – will not be at next weekend's Norisring round, and is unlikely to make the following week's official test at Hockenheim.

Team boss Russell Eacott said in a statement: "Due to the unfortunate situation that has arisen Arjun will not be competing at the Norisring. We are looking at various options that will see us return to the championship in the near future and we will endeavour to support Arjun in his racing activities in the coming months."

Eacott said that he is confident that the team will return with another driver for selected races in Europe later in the season, and "we're chasing around drivers to do Macau."

Originally on Autosport.com