MotoGP 2016: Mahindra Racing wins first ever Moto3 race

Mahindra Racing has claimed its first ever grand prix win as Francesco Bagnaia pulled off a thrilling first place finish at the Dutch GP. The Italian Moto3 rider crossed the line 0.018 seconds clear of the next rider, Andrea Migno, to claim his as well as Mahindra’s fist ever win in Moto3.

Bagnaia qualified 10^th for the race but that was of little to no relevance, which he went on to prove in the race today. The Italian charged his way up to the front pack. Like we have witnessed in the past, Moto3 races are always very closely fought and the race at Assen was not going to be any different. Several riders took lead for a brief period of time, only to be overtaken by the next guy – or some other rider out of nowhere. It was a typical edge of the seat stuff until the final few laps. Post that, it became even more exciting!

The final laps saw the battle for finish line fought between 6 riders, incidentally, all Italians – Bagnaia, Fabio DI Giannantonio, Andrea Migno, Romano Fenati,  Niccolò Antonelli and Jules Danilo. In the last few corners of the race, the leaders swapped positions many times but it was Migno who managed to come out of the second last corner clean. However, his lead and joys were short-lived as Bagnaia powered his way out of the final corner, taking the lead and eventually winning the race. The fact that the top 6 riders were only separated by 0.161seconds is further proof of how thrilling the battle was!

Bradley Binder, who’s leading the championship in Moto3 at the moment, as his bike suffered a huge wobble 6 laps before the finish, ending his contention for win in Assen.  He finished 12^th. Migno was also demoted to third place by stewards because he ran out of the track in the last lap which helped him gain an advantage.