Adam hampered by traffic, not rain

Adam Norrodin again proved his prowess in the wet but was forced to settle for 18th on the grid as traffic held him back in Moto3 qualifying at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix yesterday.

The Petronas Sprinta Racing rider clocked an impressive two minutes and 24.460 seconds in a wet third free practice (FP3) in the morning. Adam was fifth in an equally wet FP1 yesterday.

But the 20-year-old struggled to replicate his performance in qualifying where conditions had dried out and traffic at the end of the session saw him struggling to set a competitive time. His 2:13.089s was only good for 18th.

Teammate Ayumu Sasaki of Japan secured ninth (2:12.637s) while Spaniard Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini) took pole on 2:11.731s, a new qualifying lap record.

A heartbroken Adam, who was visibly in pain, could not hide his disappointment.

“I am very disappointed, in fact I have never felt this disappointed before,” said Adam yesterday.

“I had good pace in the wet today as I did previously but overall I felt I was quite good as well in the dry, I felt confident going into qualifying.

“But it was not easy in qualifying, especially in the last lap where I had a few problems with some other riders (traffic).

“There is not much I can do about it except to focus on the race tomorrow, try and have a good start and most importantly try to stay with the first group.”

Adam is competing with a shoulder injury which is broken in two places and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, both on the left side. He sustained the injuries in a crash during the Motegi round last month.

He, however, has decided to hold off on surgery until after the final round of the World Championships in Valencia later this month as it will take time for him to recover.

Meanwhile in Moto2, Khairul Idham Pawi (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) settled for 25th on the grid after clocking 2:07.683s while Finn Niki Tuuli (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was a spot behind in 26th (2:08.425s).