MAHINDRA QUITS RACING IN MOTO3

Exactly a year after the only Indian outfit on the MotoGP circuit notched its first ever win at the Moto3 round of the 2016 Dutch GP, Mahindra Racing announced its decision to quit the sport altogether at the venue of its first victory. With the 2017 season turning out to be nothing short of a disaster for Mahindra, some would say it was only to be expected, even as others struggled to come to grips with how an outfit that had two wins and a host of podiums could produce such a lacklustre season. According to Ruzbeh Irani, president of group communications and ethics and chief brand office, Mahindra Group, the decision was a result of a change in the outfit’s strategy. With the end of the 2017 season, Mahindra Racing’s entire focus would shift to its Formula E effort with the shutters coming down on its Moto3 efforts. He told the world that a strategic review of the Group’s two-wheeler operations and Mahindra Racing was what had led to the pull out. Admittedly, Mahindra’s two-wheeler business has failed to bring the kind of success that Group chairman Anand Mahindra would have hoped for. Irani further explained that the team’s successes in Formula E was proving to be an excellent platform to raise awareness about brand Mahindra and the Group on an international level, and was in line with the company’s move towards focusing on electric mobility. For India’s motorcycle racing fans, the move is a huge blow, especially after Mahindra Racing had shown such promise just in the last season. Six years after it had entered the world of Moto3. In its seventh, the team has called it quits. Mahindra Racing has been steadily becoming more successful at its Formula E campaign. The only silver lining for bike racing enthusiasts are vague rumours that Mahindra Racing might just head for Dakar.