The Dutch TT at Assen never ceases to deliver on breath-taking races. At the 2016 Dutch TT we got to see a very emotional Jack Miller take his maiden win in MotoGP after overtaking Marquez after the start of the 2nd race when Rossi crashed. But it was also a maiden win for Mahindra in the Moto3 category.
The Indian outfit first entered the lower class Moto3 category in 2011 with Miguel Oliviera giving them their 1st podium in 2013. But it was the Italian, Francesco Bagnaia who delivered Mahindra’s 1st race win in Moto3 at this year’s Dutch TT. The TT lived up to its hype in Moto3 with the top 5 riders finishing within 0.3 of a second. Pecco Bagnaia finished just 0.018s ahead of Sky VR46’s Andrea Migno who is one of Valentino Rossi’s protégés. Coming out of the last chicane on the last lap of the moto3 race, it was Andrea Migno who was leading the race who was in 5th place just the lap before. But it was Pecco who got a better drive out of the final chicane and just edged Migno by 0.018s. But later Migno was demoted to 3rd after the stewards concluded that his overtake on the back straight was illegal.
This win provides a huge boost to both Pecco and the team and motivates them to work towards more race wins. “I am very happy, I can't believe it because it was very hard to stay at the front today. I have managed to set a fast pace all weekend even though in qualifying it was difficult to set a fast lap because of the amount of slow riders on track. To win by just 0.018 seconds is incredible. In the race I managed to be quicker in the final sector than I managed in practice and I knew that if I was third in the penultimate sector I had a chance to overtake and win. This win has come on the back of a lot of hard work, two years of working to be stronger and more consistent” , Pecco said in the post-race interview.
