Mahindra hopes for another strong race at Assen

After a weekend’s break in the intense European schedule, the Mahindra squad is racing again this weekend at MotoGP’s “cathedral” at Assen, with high hopes of repeating the strong performance at the British GP.The Indian team, the only 125 squad to build its own engine and chassis, had its best race of its first season at Silverstone, where rain, high winds and cold conditions made the race into an especially severe test of man and machine.

English rider Danny Webb (20) scored his first points for Mahindra with a fine ride to eleventh place.His younger team-mate, Marcel Schrötter (18, from Germany), was robbed of an even better result. He was lying ninth with only four of 17 laps remaining when he aquaplaned on standing water and crashed out.

“It was a good performance. Now we must do the same in dry weather,” said team chief Nicola Casadei. “Our target is much higher, but we can see we are moving forward every race.”Assen is the seventh of 17 World Championship rounds for the highly competitive 125 class, where Mahindra’s own disc-valve, single-cylinder, two-stroke machine is challenging a well-established horde of 30 ‘identikit’ Italian motorcycles.

The oldest track on the calendar earned its “Cathedral” nickname in earlier times, when the long and complex circuit was considered one of motorcycling’s most difficult challenges. It has hosted a round of the Motorcycle World Championship every year since its creation in 1949 and the race maintains its ‘TT’ (Tourist Trophy) name and traditional Saturday race day. The modern 2.82-mile (4.54 km) circuit combines part of the old track with an ultra-modern, slow, twisty section, ringed with grandstands. It is a popular race for spectators from around Europe and regularly attracts over 100,000 fans.

I like the track – I was seventh here last year – and I like the place. I used to live there. We made a step forward at Silverstone: I’ve said before things are going well with the new team. We’re working together great, making the bike better every time, and I’m enjoying the project a lot.

The last race was good for me, because it seems we have found the right settings to make the bike more comfortable for me to ride it to the limit. I hope we can take those good settings to Assen also. I got into the top ten at Silverstone. I want to do that again and make sure we score more points.