Crans-Montana (Switzerland), Sep 23 (IANS): INDE Racing, the first Indian team in the FIM E-Xplorer World Cup, an electric off-road race, scripted history by claiming third place in the competition. The only bike racing team ever from India amassed 479 points across four rounds to seal their third-place finish, in their debut season.
Bonnell and Honda Racing team finished ahead of INDE Racing, in first and second place with 498 and 490 points, respectively.
Sandra Gomez, INDE Racing’s female rider, claimed the top spot at the end of the season with 271 points while Spenser Wilton and Runar Sudamann put together 162 and 46 points, respectively to finish third in the men’s category.
“Yesterday was a very good day for the team, we earned a men's P3 and a women's P1 and then we ended up clinching the third overall in the World championship. This is INDE’s first World Championship podium at the FIM E-Xplorer, which is super cool. The track was rough, lots of rocks, but the team worked hard all weekend, and it was a full team effort to get a position on the podium,” Wilton said after the race.
Sandra Gomes also weighed in saying, "The goal was to be involved and battle against the leading group in the last two races and I am very happy with myself for having done that. The track was a lot more supercross than I am used to and I needed to give my everything. I got off to a good start in both the races and went on to finish first on the day before and second yesterday to win the overall championship.”
INDE Racing began the season on a positive note with a first-place finish for Sandra and a fourth-place finish for Spenser in Osaka, on February 16-17, followed by a second consecutive podium for Sandra in Oslo, on May 3-4. To finish the season, Sandra and Spenser pulled through with two podium finishes in the doubleheader in Crans-Montana.
“We have about 300 million bikers in India and every young kid who gets a bike now dreams of racing with it. It's amazing that we have put together a team that they can cheer for because so far the teams Indians support have had no affiliation to the country. To finish third overall in our very first season and give them the opportunity to cheer for a team that truly belongs to the country is a special feeling,” INDE Racing owner Abhishek Kankanala expressed his delight at the result.