MAHINDRA MGP30
RACER TEST
P112
of thrillingly close racing. Job
done.
But a third party contender had
been growing in stature all sea-
son long, to the point that Portu-
gal's Miguel Oliveira aboard the
Mahindra MGP30 twice qualified
on pole and set new lap records
at three different circuits. Then
he marked a thoroughly satisfac-
tory debut season for the first In-
dian manufacturer ever to appear
in Grand Prix racing by finish-
ing on the rostrum in October's
Malaysian GP at Sepang. Four
fourth places and three fifths in
other races meant the 18-year
old Portuguese rider deservedly
finished sixth in the final points.
Finishing ahead of all his Hon-
da-mounted rivals on the Mahin-
dra was enough to book Miguel
a return gig with the Indian team
for 2014, when he'll be joined as
teammate by the diminutive Aus-
sie ex-speedway rider, Arthur
Sissis.
Oliveira's success came after
the Indian manufacturer swapped
technical partners after two em-
barrassing seasons of total non-
achievement in the final year of
125cc GP, then the first season
of Moto3, using bikes developed
by its Italian then-subsidiary En-
gines Engineering. Mahindra is
the Kawasaki of India, a tiny mo-
torcycle-manufacturing sliver of a
massive $16.2 billion multination-
al conglomerate, so just making
up the numbers absolutely is not
on its agenda.
But for 2013 the Mahindra
Racing team got it right the third
time with the MGP30 designed
and developed in record time by
Swiss ex-500cc GP racer Eskil
Suter's company – a success
that's fueled no less than six cus-
tomer Mahindras joining the two
factory bikes on the 2014 Moto3
entry list, comprising one-quarter
of the grid. That's serious.
The chance to ride Oliveira's
Mahindra MGP30 came at a sun-
ny Silverstone on the Internation-
al Circuit – basically, one half of
the MotoGP track, complete with
a very dusty link section bisecting
the full circuit.
There's no such thing as
cheap racing, and especially
not at World Championship
level, but I have to say I hope
that Moto3 filters down to Na-
tional level sooner rather than
The author isn't built
for life on a Moto3
bike, but that didn't
stop him.
