Mahindra Riders Finish Fourth And Sixth In Moto3

Mahindra Moto3 riders Darryn Binder and Jorge Martin recorded a fourth and a sixth place respectively in the chaotic Australian GP held at Phillip Island. Darryn was just five-hundredths of a second from a top-three finish, missing the podium by just a fraction of a second.

Mufaddal Choonia, CEO Mahindra Racing stated “It was a bitterly disappointing weekend, where we had been confident of a podium finish. Instead, we are feeling robbed, when a mistake by another rider put Pecco out of the race. And who knows where McPhee might have finished, but for the crash? This takes nothing away from a fantastic race by Darryn Binder, as well as Jorge Martin and Marcos Ramirez. It is good to see Binder and Ramirez there, who have not been in the top ten before. It shows the growing strength of the Mahindra package. Finally, best wishes to McPhee, who suffered a fracture and has flown home to Scotland for treatment. We hope to see him again at Valencia.”

The final results came in a wild ten-lap sprint after a multiple rider accident brought the 23-lap race to an early stop. Second Aspar Mahindra Team rider, Francesco 'Pecco' Bagnaia, was already out of the race, after crashing due to another rider's error, before the crash that halted the first race.

Jorge Martin struggled through, from the back of the grid to a respectable sixth position. Bagnaia had already been fighting for a top-three podium position but unfortunately, he was eliminated in the fourth lap. The race was red-flagged on the sixth, which indicated that the Italian rider was not eligible for the restart.

The Australian race was the middle of three successive races, with the GP show moving directly north for the Malaysian GP which is going to take place next weekend before the season closes at Valencia in mid-November.