After making its debut in the 600ccclass of the FIM World Superbike Championship this year,Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team is now considering entering othercategories like Sport and Supersport.
"We will have to chalk out a plan because there are threecategories, Sport Supersport and Superbike. We will see how itgoes. Definitely it's and option for us," Indian Cricket Teamcaptain MS Dhoni told reporters on Wednesday night.
The team rechristened itself as Mahi Racing Team India.
It was earlier called MSD R-N Rcing Team India.
On the name change, Dhoni said, "We thought MSD R-N wasquite a big name. There were some other reasons also. So wethought let's keep it sweet and simple to Mahi Racing TeamIndia."
He further said they will be opening two riding schoolsbased out of Greater Noida, a town located in north-Indianstate of Uttar Pradesh and Sriperambudur, a city located insouth-Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
"I would lie if I said I dreamt about opening a ridingschool. Opening a riding school definitely wasn't the agenda.
But now we are in a position to do it," he said.
Despite its entry midway into the season, the team put upa strong performance, peaking at the final race at MagnyCours, France with its rider Dan Linfoot pulling off a podiumfinish.
"There is nothing like Midas touch. It is all about theteam. You need to have a good team. You need people to performon the field. the same applies to the racing. You need to havegood riders, good team, good technical support. Racing issomething where technical assistance is very important apartfrom the drivers skill," he explained.
"Riding a bike was a dream but I still cannot ride a bike at this level. We would like the team to do well. There is amix of talent there are young drivers and there areexperienced drivers," Dhoni said.
"The team is good and they are getting good support. weare expecting to finish well next year. I don't want topressurise anyone that we want to be the top team or the toptwo or top three. We want good preparation to the guys. As Isay in cricket, it is not the result but the process andpreparation is important," he added.
Dhoni said owning the team was a dream come true for himas the project is quite close to his heart.
"This racing team is like a dream come true. I neverexpected or wanted to do anything like this. But theopportunity came up and I said let's do something and bringthis sport to India.
"Last couple of years few have had formula-1 but bikingwas an aspect that was lacking. India is among the biggest twowheeler selling market in the world. It gives an opportunityto youngsters to show their skills but at the same time not berash on roads," he said.
"When the project popped up, we were in Australia at thatpoint of time and the race was supposed to happen in PhillipIslands. As everyone knows, people call me a bike freak,because of my love for the bikes. And when the opportunity forme to get into something which was pretty new to be, when itcomes to taking it as a project but it was something that wasvery close to my heart," he added.