Mahindra can fight for win at Le Mans, says Bagnaia

Starting from the front row, after penalty to Brad Binder, the VR46 academy rider took the lead of the race from Jorge Navarro and Nicolo Bulega.

The trio then traded places, as the eventual winner Binder caught them and passed for the win, while a fascinating last lap battle saw Bulega take second and Bagnaia third, with Navarro settling for fourth.

With a second podium of 2016 in the kitty, the Italian thinks the Indian constructors' MGP30 has everything to fight for wins, and as early as the next race, in Le Mans.

"Yes," he said, when Motorsport.com asked if the Mahindra bike can win a race this season.

"I think with the work we have done in Jerez, in Le Mans, we can fight to stay in front, and mainly for a win," he added.

"Last year was good for me at Le Mans, I have good memories with my first podium and I think this year, I can go [even] faster.

"I think we are ready for the fight to win a race," putting a bold statement against rivals Honda and KTM.

Mahindra Racing's CEO, Mufaddal Choonia, was equally elated with the best start to its season, having scored 42 points in four races, and insists, the Indo-Spanish team have more in the bag.

"Results like this really motivate us to push even harder to keep improving," he said. "We started with our technical update plan from Jerez onward.

"And we will continue to bring in important updates over the next two or three races," he added.

Heavy fall for Martin

While Bagnaia rejoiced on the podium, teammate Jorge Martin suffered a heavy fall in the race, involving Fabio Quartararo - both riders unharmed from a nasty crash.

"I think I was in eleventh when I made a mistake shifting down and crashed," the Spaniard said.

"Unfortunately, I took Quartararo with me and I would like to apologise to him."

Additional reporting by Jamie Klein