VOL. 51 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 P45
only narrowly after a great battle
with fourth-placed Dani Pedro-
sa's Repsol Honda and Andrea
Dovizioso's Ducati - the three
crossing the finish line within less
than a second between them.
In many ways, Dovizioso's
ride was the most remarkable of
the race, after a spell of gather-
ing strength and improving lap
times, but followed inevitably by
fading away as the tires went off.
Briefly...
Mahindra is to abandon its official
team next year, to concentrate on
technical development of the MG-
P3O for its several customer teams,
whose numbers will be boosted
next year when the prestigious As-
par team switches from KTM to the
Swiss-built Indian-owned machine.
Aspar will run the factory-backed
team in the same way as Red Bull
Ajo and Estrella Galicia run the KTM
and Honda teams, respectively. Ac-
cording to Mahindra racing CEO
Mufaddal Choonia, the cash saved
on team expenses will be diverted
to machine development. At the
same time, development will now
be directed by Mahindra, although
still working with current partner
Suter Racing. The strategic move
follows growing strength this year,
with customer Brad Binder second
in Germany and official rider Miguel
Oliveira third at Assen. According
to Mahindra Racing chairman, SP
Shukla, the decision reinforced the
Indian factory's commitment to the
MotoGP series "since we will now
focus our resources on enhancing
the development of our Mahindra
MGP3O racer... supporting several
customer teams rather than running
another team ourselves."
Pictures emerged from Brno tests
of Marc Marquez saving a crash
that looked completely impossible
- his arm and shoulder already on
the ground. "I was really lucky," he
explained. "I lost the front and I was
sliding for such a long time I was able
to think about what to do. I opened
the gas, and when I opened my eyes
I was on the bike again. I don't want
to repeat that." Repeat it he did,
however, sliding off in free practice
at the slowest corner on the track.
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