Mahindra Racing Bags Brilliant One-Two Finish At Brno GP

Mahindra Racing has more reasons to rejoice as their Moto3 machine continues to impress in yet another race, which took place in Brno. The Mahindra MGP3O Moto3 machine brought a brilliant first and second finish for the only Indian constructor in World Championship racing.

The man behind the handlebar of the winning bike was John McPhee, also scoring his first GP victory and who was over eight seconds ahead of his closest competitor during the race -- Jorge Martin (Aspar Mahindra Team). Just like McPhee, Martin also took his career-best second place and ultimately bringing the Mahindra team another podium, making it the best season for the team till now.

Interestingly, this is Aspar Mahindra’s fifth podium finish and is even more encouraging after the team’s historic Dutch TT win at Assen. The hero of the race was 19-year old Pecco Bagnaia who brought this fourth podium finish for the team.

However, Brno turned out to be a bit harsh for Bagnaia with a crash and later, some tyre problems, which meant he was pushing hard only to score some points out of the race. As a matter of fact, Bagnaia wasn’t the only one to wash out of the rain-drenched circuit, as there were several others including the long-time race leader Brad Binder (KTM). Binder was closely trailed by McPhee and the persistent pressure from him (McPhee) left Binder pushing even harder until he slid off.

From this point on, McPhee had the track to himself with no one left to chase. However, he had a little heart-in-the-mouth moment when his bike started to slide on the third last lap, but eventually he was able to regain control to finish off a clean victory. 

On the other hand, the second finisher, Martin started at the fourth position on the starting grid and, following a penalty on a leading rider, he eventually gained positions. Martin then flipped between a few positions with the first four riders for quite some until he ultimately sealed the second spot. However, he was constantly and fiercely trailed by Fabio Di Giannantonio (Honda) -- who finished third and almost a second behind Martin at the flag.

Speaking of his win, McPhee said, “I am still trying to let it sink in. Today was kind of hard. I had a good strategy for the dry and had won a good starting position, but in the rain it is so difficult to make a plan. I knew I had to be in the front group, and then wait and see. Brad [Binder} had a good rhythm, so I decided to follow him then attack in the last laps. Unfortunately for him he fell off. Then I had to keep calm and keep my own rhythm. I was trying to read my pit board but my visor was fogged. I couldn’t see if I was leading by 12 seconds or 1.2 seconds. After I had a big moment with three laps to go I looked over my shoulder, and I could see I had a clear lead.”

While a satisfied Martin said, “Really happy with this position. In the Warm Up I really didn’t feel good but we used a similar setting to John who was strong and in the race I was really fast because of this. I was pushing so much and I knew that the front riders had a bit of a better pace, but I kept my rhythm and finally I finished in the podium.”

Mahindra now aims at a one-two finish for the Aspar Mahindra Team at the British GP at Silverstone in two weeks.