Petronas and TVS come together to form new racing team

Home-grown TVS Racing announced a partnership with Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas on Monday under which its racing team will be rebranded as Petronas TVS racing team.

As part of the collaboration, Petronas will supply Petronas Sprinta, its high-performance engine oil, to the rechristened team to participate in domestic race championships.

The partnership between the two companies includes the development of co-branded oil Petronas TVS TRU4 RacePro, which will be available to consumers across the country from next month. Petronas had powered the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team and Lewis Hamilton to eight constructors' championship titles.

"To start with, we have entered into an agreement for partnership in domestic racing," said K N Radhakrishnan, Director and CEO, TVS Motor Company. "We are looking for a long-term relationship and this partnership will help both. They (Petronas) have tremendous experience. Two world-class companies have come together to explore opportunities."

The partnership will be for five years initially, Radhakrishnan said, adding, "If we are going to have the same ambitions, we are not going to say no. For now, it is domestic. You look at each other and you look at the strength of the other.”

The newly rechristened Petronas TVS racing team will participate in several racing competitions, including the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship, the Indian National Supercross Championship and the Indian National Rally Championship.

The TVS Apache and the TVS NTORQ 125 have been the fastest growing brands in their respective segments, the company said, adding that TVS Racing was also the pioneer of the One Make Championship in the country. The racing team currently has 25 riders.

Radhakrishnan said that Petronas's global expertise and solid presence in motorsports combined with TVS Racing's four decades of strong racing heritage would take the team to greater heights. "This relationship, according to me, is definitely going to help us in refining to the next level," he added.

Datin Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz, Senior General Manager, Group Strategic Communications, Petronas, said the company had been able to continuously innovate its Fluid Technology Solutions offerings for track and road and was proud to partner and extend its expertise to the TVS racing team. "We are highly motivated by this project," she said. "It gives us another platform to test our capabilities and create awareness about the Petronas brand and philosophy to motorsport fans in India, a strategic market for our business."

Giuseppe Pedretti, Regional Managing Director, Petranos Lubricants International, said the Petronas TVS Tru4 Race Pro engine oil was formulated with the same premium additive technology as the one used by the Petronas-TVS Racing team. "This is so that TVS consumers can experience the same superior performance in their bikes," he said.

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