No Mahindra factory team in 2015 as company focus shifts to bike development

Mahindra Racing has announced its decision not to run a factory team in Moto3 in 2015 so as to focus on bike development instead.

Mahindra Racing’s trailblazing decision to take on the world’s best at the highest level of motorcycle racing has won the team plaudits in India and much respect among the MotoGP community. From 2015, India’s first and only MotoGP manufacturer, will renew its focus on bike development, following a strong performance during the current season.

The constructor will concentrate on strengthening the development programme of its successful Mahindra MGP3O Moto3™ motorcycle and will no longer run its own factory team. The decision to concentrate on machine development as a full-scale constructor only strengthens Mahindra’s commitment to top-level two-wheeled racing.

This shift in focus comes after an encouraging 2014 season so far that has seen customer teams such as Ambrogio Racing, Team CIP and Team Italia register ever improving results on the Mahindra MGP3O, including Ambrogio’s South African rider Brad Binder scoring Mahindra’s best-ever result with second place in Germany. Mahindra Racing has also concluded an agreement to supply the 2015 MGP3O racer to the experienced Aspar Team, owned by former world champion Jorge Martinez.

Mahindra Racing became the first ever Indian constructor to participate in the FIM MotoGP Motorcycle Road Racing World Championship series in 2011, the final year of the 125cc two-stroke championship. The manufacturer subsequently switched to the new Moto3 250cc four-stroke class from 2012, recording a first podium in 2013 and following this with third place at this year’s Dutch TT in Assen before Binder’s second place at the Sachsenring.

“We constantly review operations to fine tune our strategy for maximum success,” explained Mr SP Shukla, Chairman of Mahindra Racing and President of Strategy & Defence Sectors and Chief Brand Officer for Mahindra Group. “This decision further reinforces our commitment to the MotoGP championship since we will now focus our resources on enhancing the development of our Mahindra MGP3O racer. With this move, we shall put all our efforts into machine development for 2015 and beyond, supporting several customer teams rather than running another team ourselves.”

Mufaddal A. Choonia, Chief Executive Officer Mahindra Racing, added: “Working with experienced customer teams rather than having their own factory outfits is a model successfully employed by our manufacturer peers in the Moto3 series. We have a great group of people in the Mahindra Racing team and we are extremely grateful to all of them for the contribution they have made. We know we have more work to do to make the MGP3O the bike to beat in Moto3 and we are confident that this new approach will be the best way forward.”

Source: Mahindra Racing