MotoGP: Mahindra Pick Foreign Riders

The team, named Mahindra Racing, will compete in the 125cc category in its inaugural season.

Briton Danny Webb and German Marcel Schrotter are the riders representing the new team, beginning in the first race at Qatar in March.cars for sale in India

"It is a new team but the company backing it is a reputed one," said Webb, explaining his decision to race for the fledgling team.

Webb (left) and Schrotter at the launch"We have the first test next month and we start our campaign at Qatar," he added.

His team mate Schrotter concurred.

"This might be a new team but it gives you a good feeling," said the German, a former European champion in the category.

The MotoGP comprises three categories: the 125cc, the 600cc and the 800cc, and most top manufacturers (Honda, Yamaha, Ducati, Aprilia, Suzuki et al) participate in all the three.

Regarding Mahindra's decision to draft a team only in the 125cc category, there was a clear-cut and pragmatic explanation.

"It is the bike that most of the customers will ride," said Ruzbeh Irani, Executive vice-president (Corporate Strategy) and Chief Brand Officer, adding, "We would like them to see how the product performs at a global stage."e-bike in India

Mahindra's entry to the MotoGP championship follows its acquisition of Engines Engineering, an Italian company constructs race bikes and provides specialised components and technical support for teams in the MotoGP championship since 2003.

In fact, the Mahindra Racing Team's motorcycle for this year's championships has been designed and developed by the Italian subsidiary.used cars delhi

Mahindra Becomes The First Indian Manufacturer In MotoGP (125cc)

The USD7.1 billion Mahindra Group will become the first Indian motorcycle manufacturer to enter a team into the prestigious FIM Road Racing World Championship (MotoGP). Riders Danny Webb from the UK and Marcel Schrötter from Germany, already well known in MotoGP, will ride for Mahindra Racing in the 125cc category for the 2011 season. The company today introduced the two riders to the Indian media on their visi to the Mahindra headquarters in Mumbai.
Speaking about Mahindra’s participation in the MotoGP Championships, Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group , said,

    “It is a matter of great pride for us to represent India in the world’s most prestigious two-wheeled race series. Mahindra Motorcycles will compete with the best in class, and it will be an ideal opportunity for us to showcase our strengths in the engineering and IT domains. MotoGP is the ultimate test for the finest talents in motorcycle racing and an immensely popular championship with a cult following. Our participation will also help us leverage the power of global branding for the Mahindra Group.” ebike

Marcel Schrötter , the 18-year-old former German and European 125cc champion, said:

    “It is exciting to be part of an international collaboration, especially with a company like Mahindra whose ethos is to support upcoming talent. With a year’s experience in the World Championship under my belt, I am now looking forward to making a mark with Mahindra Racing at the MotoGP World Championships.”

Danny Webb’s talent was spotted from an early age and he became a MotoGP Academy rider, making his World Championship debut at the age of 15 in 2006. Now a veteran at 19, Danny will enter his fifth full season in the 125cc class. The British rider said:

    “I hope that all the experience I have racing in the 125cc class can help this new but ambitious team and I can take a step up this year. It is a privilege to ride for the first Indian team to enter the World Championship. There seems to be a real buzz about India in international sport at the moment and it would be great if we get a good Indian following.”

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Mahindra’s entry to the MotoGP Championship follows its acquisition of Engines Engineering of Italy, a company that has been constructing race bikes and providing specialised components and technical support for teams in MotoGP since 2003. The Mahindra World Championship motorcycle has been designed and developed by the Italian two wheeler specialist.

In addition to its desire to achieve on-track racing success, Mahindra has created the race programme to achieve a number of related business objectives. Mahindra’s involvement in MotoGP offers it an important global footprint to promote the Mahindra brand and create relationships as the group expands. It witnessed firsthand the power of international sport for brand building through Mahindra Satyam partnership with FIFA at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Mahindra also believes that working closely with Engines Engineering and facing the engineering challenges of prototype racing will have a positive and motivating impact on its Systech engineering business. Systech develops an automotive technology and there will be a constant two-way dialogue between it and the race programme.

Mahindra has only recently joined the motorcycle and scooter market in India. The Indian two-wheeler market is growing extremely quickly and over 11 million units sold in 2010, a massive 31% rise on 2009 figures. Its own business in this area tripled in the same period, but it needs to maintain this level of growth. Mahindra will use its MotoGP programme as a central communication platform for its two-wheeler business to help achieve this growth and cement its position in the Indian market.

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Mahindra Mojo's Rival

While it will sell primarily in Brazil and China for now, Suzuki could also launch this motorcycle in other emerging countries like Thailand and India. With the 2011 Honda CBR250R and the Mahindra Mojo 300 all set to go on sale in the Indian market shortly, we’re wondering whether Suzuki Motorcycles India is thinking about getting the GW250 to India.