Valencia: Mahindra Racing has confirmed its riders for the 2013 Moto3™ World Championship. An all-new line up will see experienced Spaniard Efrén Vázquez (26, from Bilbao) joined by exciting Portuguese teenager Miguel Oliveira (17, from Pragal near Lisbon).

The signing of two highly-regarded Moto3 riders is a statement of intent by the only Indian team in Grand Prix racing. Earlier this year, Mahindra announced a new technical partnership with established Swiss firm Suter Racing Technology AG for the development of a new Moto3 challenger for 2013.

The team will also move from its current Italian base to Switzerland for 2013 and introduce a number of new and experienced personnel. Having chosen the challenging route of developing its own technology to take the fight to the established racing factories in the World Championship, Mahindra Racing is confident that the restructuring will pay dividends.

“We are in the process of implementing strategic changes we had planned for next year and so far the outcome has been excellent” emphasized S.P. Shukla, President, Group Strategy and Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra Group. “MotoGP plays an important part in our wider business strategy as a leading player in the field of mobility from 2Wheelers to Cars to Sports Vehicles. It is also a vital test bed for future technological development. We are committed to success in the series and the announcement that these two talented young riders will join Mahindra Racing underlines this.”

“This is an exciting opportunity,” explained Efrén Vázquez. “Mahindra has shown some real commitment to the sport and I was impressed by their plans. I am looking forward to working with the team and we are aiming to make the new bike into one of the top machines in Moto3.”

“Having an Indian company involved in MotoGP is great and so I am very pleased to join this project,” added Miguel Oliveira. “Mahindra Racing has enormous support in India and I want to help them achieve their goals. I know there will be challenges ahead, but I am confident and very excited about 2013.”

CEO of Mahindra Racing Mufaddal Choonia concluded: “Signing these two riders was very important to us, and I think it is testament to the efforts that we are putting in to our 2013 programme that they wanted to join Mahindra Racing. Our plans are coming together well, but we are under no illusion that 2013 will be easy. We have learned some hard lessons this year, and we have a much stronger all-round package in place for the future.”

By Indian Sports News Network