Hafizh Syahrin enjoyed an encouraging start to the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez but the PETRONAS Raceline Malaysia rider made clear more improvement is needed if he were to challenge the usual Moto2 frontrunners.
Hafizh, currently ranked ninth overall in the Moto2 World Championship Standings with 23 points came in 14th quickest, clocking his best lap in 1’44.135s, pointing out there were a few issues with the bike set up and some adjustment is necessary to beef up his lap times.
The PETRONAS Talent Development rider was 1.5 seconds off Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami who set a scorching new lap record in 1’42.642s, beating Stefan Bradl’s 1’42.706s from 2011 while Lorenzo Baldassarri and Simone Corsi recorded  second and third best lap time.
Hafizh Syahrin, PETRONAS Raceline Malaysia Moto2 rider
I went out to do a few fast laps in the beginning and the bike went pretty well. I could control the initial slides but once we fitted another tyre option, the bike started to slide more, causing my lines to drift wide on the exits. Other than that, I am pretty relax this session. Hopefully we can get the bike to work better later this the afternoon.
Barry Leong, PETRONAS Raceline Malaysia team manager
Fresh from a short break back home in Malaysia, Hafizh is back in Europe for his fourth GP race. Jerez is not Hafizh’ favorite circuit but he doing fine for his first practice. Apart from the sliding issue, he is doing quite good. The engineer will focus to rectify the rear end slides and get the bike to steer better at the exit points.
Moto2 Free Practice 1 Results
- Takaaki Nakagami (JPN) 1’42.642s
- Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) 1’42.805s
- Simone Corsi (ITA) 1’43.366s
- Sam Lowes (GBR) 1’43.651s
- Johann Zarco (FRA) 1’43.651s
Selected
- Hafizh Syahrin (MAS) 1’44.135s
