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Mahindra Racing enjoyed its best result of the season as Efren Vazquez and Miguel Oliveira finished fifth and sixth respectively at the Catalunyan Grand Prix of the Moto3 World Championship, in Barcelona, on Sunday.
The double top six is the team's best result so far which helped them gain 21 valuable points to improve the all-new MGP3O machine's strong standing in the championships.
The race was a personal triumph for Vazquez. The 26-year-old racer from Bilbao in northern Spain missed the last two races after breaking his collarbone in practice in France. Still not fully healed, he gritted his teeth and even took the lead mid-race. Still close to the leaders after 22 gruelling laps, fifth was his best finish of the season.
18-year-old Oliveira started from the front row for the second time this year, and played a strong part in the seven-strong breakaway. By the end he had lost a couple of seconds on his team-mate, but held his pace to win a strong fight for sixth.
"I am very happy with this race even though I couldn't fight for the podium right until the end. Fighting in the first group demonstrates the level of our performance with the new bike. The setting of the bike was perfect. My main issue was my shoulder. I need more time to let it completely recover because at the end of the race it was difficult to move," Vazquez said.
Oliveira said,"It was a bit difficult to fight today, but it was important to finish and I am happy we could still get sixth; and sixth in the championship is not bad. Maybe I could have done better if everything had gone 100%, but racing is like that and I am happy that we are in good shape for the next races."