Imola (Italy), Apr 4 (IANS): India's Arjun Maini led the Haupt Racing Team to a successful start to the new GT World Challenge Europe season this weekend. At Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, the No.5 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of nu concept showed a strong race and secured third place in the newly created Gold Cup.

Comprising Maini, Florian Scholze and Hubert Haupt, the team drove a strong race and secured third place in the 3-hour Endurance race that had several interventions of full course yellow as well as safety cars The No.5. HRT steadily made its way forward to finish on the podium.

The Gold Class Consists of one Professional driver (Arjun Maini), one silver driver and one bronze driver, Maini's team informed in a release on Monday.

"I think overall it was a good weekend for us, strong points, qualifying we had a bit traffic so we could not optimize it, So I am glad we made it up in the race," Maini said.

"So, I think we can definitely be championship contenders and onwards to Paul Ricard and well I think we can fight for the win as we progress. We are looking forward to it and a great start for a season," the 24-year-old from Bangalore said.

"Was great to be on the podium in the very first race of the season and really would like to thank team HRT and Hubert Haupt for making this possible. I hadn't driven in Imola with a GT 3 car before and kept improving every time I got into the car. Really satisfied with the start and we look forward for many more as the season progresses," he added.