Mahindra take pole

Mahindra Racing notched up their best-ever result as far as qualifying is concerned when Portuguese Miguel Oliveira took pole in the Moto3 category at the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen on Friday. Mahindra’s previous best effort in qualifying was at the French Grand Prix in May when Oliveira took second position but failed to finish the race. “We deserve this. The bike is performing well with no weak areas. Saturday’s race will be difficult. You never know what can happen in big groups of riders but I will give it everything I have,” said the 18-year-old.

Mahindra Racing CEO, Mufaddal Choonia, was ecstatic. “This has been a dream performance. We knew that pole would come to Mahindra some time during the season, but we honestly didn’t expect it to come so soon. Everyone knows that the bike was put together for the first time in January. The progress from drawing board to race-track success has been tremendous,” Choonia said. Mahindra second driver Efren Vazquez will start 17th on the grid.