Rotterdam, Feb 22 (IANS): Young Indian racer Kush Maini has signed with MP Motorsport for his debut season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship. Joining the Dutch outfit for FIA F3 will allow the 21-year-old from Bengaluru to showcase his talent during Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends.

Maini, supported by JK Racing, lines up with MP after competing in the F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA last year as well as finishing second in the British F3 Championship in 2020, and will now be able to prove his worth in the FIA F3 level.

At MP Motorsport, the Indian driver will team up with Alexander Smolyar from Russia and Caio Collet from Brazil. Kush Maini is the younger brother of former FIA F2 and F3 driver Arjun Maini, who has since competed in the ELMS and the German DTM series.

"I'm excited to join MP Motorsport for my first year in FIA F3," said Maini. "In 2021, MP proved to be race winners and in the final standings, they were the only FIA F3 team to have two rookies finish in the top-ten. This shows their ability to coach rookie drivers on their way to immediately performing well in the series. I can't wait to get going for pre-season testing and the first round at Bahrain!"

"I'm pleased to welcome Kush to our FIA F3 team," said MP Motorsport team principal Sander Dorsman. "In the past few years, Kush has proved himself extremely well at regional F3 levels, now it's time for him to step up to FIA F3. I'm sure he will mix well with Alex and Caio, and we will do our best to help him shine during each of the nine-race weekends coming up in the championship."

After a karting career that kicked off in 2011 with the Indian national title at Rotax Micromax level, followed by accomplishments such as second in the 2013 WSK Euro Series at 60 Mini level, fourth in the 2014 CIK-FIA World KF Junior Championship and fourth in the 2015 KF Junior WSK Champions Cup, Maini debuted in single-seaters in 2016, taking his first podium in the Italian F4 Championship. Subsequently dovetailing Italian F4 with selected ADAC F4 rounds took him to eighth in the 2017 Italian series.

In 2018 and 2020, Maini raced to third and then second in British F3, while taking sixth in the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup. In 2021, the Indian youngster combined the Asian F3 championship with an LMP2 drive in the FIA World Endurance Championship.