After Mahindra Racing’s first Moto3 win at the Dutch TT in Assen two weeks ago, the MGP30 race bike arrived at the Sachsenring in Germany this weekend packing an all-new gearbox.
The new gearbox was developed and tested during the past six weeks. During the time between the races, the team was able to produce enough units to be able to homologate the new part and provide one to each of the eight Mahindra and two Peugeot Motocycle riders.
Mahindra Racing’s CEO Mufaddal Choonia said, “We haven’t really had a chance to celebrate Pecco’s fantastic win in Assen. The team has been flat out working with our suppliers in order to be able to deliver the new gearbox to Germany so that we can up our performance even further. It has been a great effort to design, test and produce the new gearbox in only six weeks. As well as Albert Arenas in the Junior World Championship, we managed to run tests with a number of our World Championship riders with universally positive results. We were determined to release the upgrade as soon as possible and so have made a massive effort to get it here”
He also went on to say, “With a quicker, smoother change both up and down the gears, this is an important development to give all of our riders more confidence as we head into the second half of the season. Pecco has shown that the MGP3O is capable of winning races and this fact, combined with the upgrades we have made to the bike over the past few races, should see improved performances from all of our riders.”
Jorge Martin, rider for the official Aspar Mahindra team, was enthusiastic about the performance of the MGP3O fitted with the new gearbox at this morning’s first session at the Sachsenring, a track where Mahindra Racing had previously scored its best result, a second place, in 2014. “It’s a massive improvement for us,” said the Spanish teenager, who finished fourth in Free Practice 1. “We had our problems with the old gearbox in the first part of the season. In first practice today I got my first chance to try the new box, and it worked perfectly. It was very reliable and shifted quickly, so it’s a big step and I’m very happy and grateful for the work of Mahindra Racing.”
The all-new gearbox is the latest in a list of planned upgrades to come from Mahindra Racing’s development facility at Besozzo, near Varese in Italy. It follows a new shifting mechanism that was introduced in Catalunya.
