Team Mahindra enjoyed yet another double top-six result as Miguel Oliveira and Efren Vazquez finished fourth and sixth at German Grand Prix in Moto3 category of the MotoGP championships in Sachsenring, Germany.
Oliveira, who started third, made a poor start as he finished the first lap eighth. Vazquez was right behind him, with a flying start from the third row of the grid.
As the usual top trio of Spaniards moved clear ahead, Vazquez passed his team-mate and the pair started to pick up positions. By the mid-point of the 27-lap race Oliveira was ahead once more, with the white-and-red Mahindras in a four-bike battle for fourth place.
Oliveira took the position with three laps to go, and held off a challenging Alex Marquez. Vazquez was on the Spaniard’s back wheel, but just unable to find a way past. Oliveira finished 4.98 seconds behind winner Alex Rins; Vazquez less than half-a-second behind him.
"I lost concentration at the start and did not get away well, and I was not comfortable in the early part of the race. I lost time with some suspension chatter problems. I found a way to fix it by changing my style a little, but by then it was already very complicated. I concentrated on saving the tyres and finishing the race. Another fourth shows I am constant," Oliveira said.
Vazquez said, "It was a difficult race, with the tyre grip going down -- but the Mahindra was really good round the series of left-hand corners in the first part of the lap, and I could push hard there."
"Unfortunately Marquez was faster on the second part of the lap, so although I tried my best I couldn’t overtake on the last lap. Finally I have found a good setting, and the team is working really well. These points are valuable: after the first half of the season I am in the top ten. We are not on the podium yet, but we are getting better all the time."
