Nurburgring, Sep 28 (IANS): India's Arjun Maini, 17, finished eighth and among points in the first of the three races of the European Formula Three championship, here over the weekend.

In the next two races, Maini came in 12th and 16th.

The weekend did not get off to the best of starts with Maini finishing in 16th in the first practice session and 11th in the next.

Qualifying in the 11th spot for the first race, Maini worked his way up to eighth and then managed to hold off Canada’s Lance Stroll for the remainder of the race to score his first points since the Monza round in May.

He did not fare too well in the other two races of the weekend as he could manage only 12th and 16th positions to end a mixed weekend.

The previous weekend saw Maini participating in the Masters races at Zandvoort, Netherlands, where he finished a creditable eighth and sixth in the double-header that was run as part of the European F3 championship.

The teenager showed good pace to finish seventh in the first practice session and second in the next outing with a time of one minute, 32.547 seconds which was only .043 seconds off championship contender Antonio Giovinazzi of Italy.

However, with an 18-car grid and a relatively short track, Maini was unable to carry his practice pace into the qualifying session and could only manage sixth.

A difficult qualification race saw Maini finish eighth after he dropped positions at the start, first to Sam Macleod of Scotland, then the Nabil Jeffri of Malysia and Italian team-mate AlessioLorandi.

The final race however was a reverse of the qualifier with Maini making up two positions to finish sixth.

"It's been a difficult year so far, but I definitely feel as if these past two races are a sort of comeback for me.

"Most of these tracks were new to me and I'm definitely happy with the way my second trip to Zandvoort has gone and also to follow that up with more points at the Nurburgring," the 17-year-old said.

"These results are definitely a positive step in front and came at the perfect time, with the season coming to an end. Hopefully, the team and I can carry our momentum forward and score some points in the final round of the European championship."