Mahindra Racing Team and Riccardo Moretti took the victory in the season opening race at the 125GP Italian Championship on the Mugello Circuit.

Moretti started the race from the pole position, while Kumar got off from the 8th row and the 22nd spot on the grid. It was the first weekend for the young Indian rider on the Italian track and also the crash suffered during the wet second qualifying session didn't help. On race day, Sarath Kumar was forced to an early retirement due to a technical issue.

Moretti got a great start of the race and he both maintained and quickly extended his leadership on the opponents. As the race went into its second half his advantage on the runner-up grew to ten seconds.

Muffadal Choonia, Team  Mahindra Racing Principal optimistically stated "We feel ecstatic winning the first race of the italian championship which is one of the toughest national motor racing championships in the world. A victory in our debut race is a shot in the arm. We are now in the right frame of mind to vie for the championship title."

Riccardo Moretti sounded ecstatic, "We started this season in the best way possible. My start from the grid was a good one and since I was in the lead I tried to push at my best to get the best margin possible. I was able to do so and that allowed me to just manage the advantage in the second part of the race. During the course of the week-end I got to know both bike and time much better and I can say we're still not at 100 per cent but surely there's  good room for improvements. I'm looking forward to the next event, that will take place at Imola."

Tags: mahindra, mahindra racing, 125gp