Hafizh knows it’s time to deliver in fourth full season
PETALING JAYA: Will it be Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah’s turn to seize glory for Malaysia in the Moto2 world championship this year?
The 18-round championship season gets underway at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar this weekend and Hafizh is looking to translate his impressive testing form into a much needed podium.
Hafizh ran a strong fourth in the combined standings of the final Moto2 testing at the same track three days ago.
The 22-year-old clocked 2:00.771 behind Spaniard Alex Marquez, the younger brother of reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, who was third fastest with 2:00.427.
Italian Franco Morbidelli was second fastest with 2:00.240 while Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami topped the timesheets with 2:00.187.
Malaysian rookie Khairul Idham Pawi, who is Nakagami’s team-mate in Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, struggled to find his footing and was placed 28th with 2:02.255.
Khairul was promoted to the intermediate class after a spectacular debut in the Moto3 world championship last year where he won two races in Argentina and Germany.
The 18-year-old is not expected to be fighting at the front given his lack of experience and the pressure is on Hafizh to deliver for the country.
After three full seasons in Moto2, the time is right for Hafizh to make his mark and earn promotion to the MotoGP with his Petronas Raceline Yamaha team next year.
Hafizh is aware he needs to convince the sponsors of his ability to tackle the highest class of the world championship.
“I had my best year in 2016 but I hope to do even better,” said Hafizh.
“This was the first time everyone tested the official engines and we ran under floodlights similar to what’s expected for the first race.
“We had short but fruitful runs. I hope for the best and hopefully have more opportunities to fight for the podium this year,” said Hafizh, who finished fourth three times last year (Qatar, Spain and United Kingdom).
He finished ninth in the overall standings with 118 points last year.