Estoril 2011

Danny finished 16th in Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix. The 20-year-old Britain came so close to claiming his first points for the new Indian-owned team, but just lost the crucial 15th place with only two of the 23 laps remaining.

Team-mate Marcel Schrötter finished two places lower, a massive improvement on his 27th spot on the grid after the team found settings to suit the 18-year-old German and improve his lap time by two seconds. But crippling pain from an earlier injury struck in the race, slowing his progress.

 The only team to build their own engine and chassis in the fiercely competitive 125cc class, Mahindra Racing now has a full day of testing in Estoril on Tuesday or Wednesday to iron out the little problems that are frustrating them, before the next round at Le Mans in France on May 15.

“I believe in my riders, and the engine is fast,” said team manager Nicola Casadei. “Now we must look at the data to understand why we had some suspension problems today that weren’t present yesterday. We have a full day of testing, with some new engine parts as well as the new rear shock absorber, and I am sure we will make the next step after that.”

 Danny said:

'I’m gutted to just miss out on that point. The race was like Qatar. Everything was working in the first half, but when the tyres went down and lost grip, I was struggling. I saw the gap coming down from the rider behind me, and I tried my best, but when he came past I could see that he had much better grip out of the corners, where I was just bouncing around. We’re not too far off, but we need to work on longer runs to be more competitive at the end. I hope we can get it sorted at the test.'