Foret seals 2nd win for Mahi Racing
Mahi Racing Team India driver Fabien Foret (left) pose with team chairman and managing director Arun Pandey after their second c
Mahi Racing Team India continued to dominate the 2013 World Supersport season with their French rider Fabien Foret making it two out of two victories for the country’s first Super Sport team at Aragon, Spain, on Sunday.
Foret, who started the race in third position, took the chequered flag at 37 min 10.286 secs, 6.595 secs ahead of Michael Van der Mark of Pata Honda World Supersport team and also took pole position in the drivers’ championship race with an aggregate of 38 points from two races.
The Frenchman had finished fourth in the opening race at Philip Island, Australia, last month. The 40-year-old put up a tough fight against Sam Lowes of Yakhnich Motorsport until the 17th lap, when Lowes had to retire from the race with a technical snag in his bike.
Ultimately, it turned out to be a perfect end for Mahi Racing, though the script threatened to go awry at the start with three-time world champion and pole sitter Kenan Sofuoglu of Turkey forced to retire on the second lap due to a technical snag in his Kawasaki ZX-6R.
Foret had also struggled to get off to a decent start and slipped eight positions to 11th by the end of the first half. However, he clawed his way back, thanks to his vast experience, and took the lead in the eighth lap.
From there on it was always a fight to finish between Foret and Lowes, who is expected to be the biggest challenger of the Indian team riders this season. Foret led Lowes till the 12th lap but the Brit took advantage of a small mistake by the Frenchman to claim the lead.
With Foret chasing vigorously, Lowes had to push harder and in that attempt was forced to pull out on the final lap due to a technical snag that slowed him down on the first two corners of the final lap and the Frenchman overtook him to take the chequered flag with ease.
An elated Foret later expressed his joy of being able to keep the promise he made to the team owner and India cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“When I visited India, I had promised him (Dhoni) to gift my helmet after winning a race. I am happy that I could manage to win the race immediately after our visit to India and put our team in a strong position,” Foret said.
Mahi Racing Team India’s chairman and managing director Arun Pandey had a mixed feeling. “With Kenan on pole and Fabian starting third we were looking forward to our first one-two finish. However, Kenan had to retire due to a technical snag but I am happy that Foret maintained our winning momentum.”
Results: 1. Fabien Foret 37 min 10.286 (MAHI Racing Team India), 2. Michael Vd Mark(Pata Honda World Supersport) 37’16.881, 3. Luca Scassa(Kawasaki Intermoto 37’20.195 Ponyexpres), 4. Andrea Antonelli 37’20.396 (Team Goeleven)
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