Mahindra Racing is going from strength to strength as the MotoGP season has progressed. And on Saturday, there was another first for them. Both their riders — Germany’s Marcel Schroetter and Great Britain’s Danny Webb — finished in points in the 125cc category at Assen, Netherlands.
While 18-year-old Schroetter came ninth to pocket seven points, Webb finished 13th to earn three points. Schroetter had scored Mahindra’s first points at the Spanish MotoGP with a 13th place finish. He now has 10 points and is 19th in the championship. Webb has eight points and is 22nd in the table.
The young German would have finished much higher if the race wasn’t red-flagged on the 15th of 22 scheduled laps due to incessant rain.
“Danny and I both got a good start, but in the first three or four laps I made a couple of little mistakes and lost touch with the lead group. Then it started to rain a little and I was able to close the gap. I had no idea that the race would be stopped. If I had known, I would have attacked more,” said Schroetter.
Team principal Mufaddal Choonia was ecstatic. “This is an extremely proud moment for all of us at Mahindra. We have broken into the top 10 in just our sixth race. And what makes it more special is that both Marcel and Danny finished in the points,” Choonia said.
Meanwhile, America’s Ben Spies crowned Yamaha’s 50th anniversary with a maiden victory in the Dutch MotoGP while championship leader Casey Stoner took second place. Spies’ Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo finished in sixth place after a first-lap collision with Honda rider Marco Simoncelli, who recovered to finish ninth.
