The hot and humid Argentinian weather is hampering national Moto2 rider, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah to repeat another 17th grid start when he could only manage 26th fastest in the World Championship (MotoGP) qualifyings in Jerez, Spain earlier this morning.
Clocking in at 1:45.386s in free practice, the PETRONAS Raceline Malaysia rider further shed his second with 1:44.563s, shy of 1:797s but still not enough to start near fastest rider, Mika Kallio of Marc VDS Racing Team (1:42.766s).
The rider explained that they were unable to find a match on the engine mapping to counter the sweltering hot weather. “The qualifying session was tough, even our gaps were closer than any of the other tracks. It’s hard to set a good time under the hot sun like today.
The high temperature also causes my tires to loose their grips so sudden that i almost slipped off the track in a few instances when i was pushing harder. Hopefully everything will get better for us come race time,” said Hafizh.
Team manager, Barry Leong mentioned that the scenario is normal for young riders like Hafizh. “The hot weather can sometimes be an advantage for experienced riders but for riders like Hafizh, he needs to get more time on the seat. Let’s hope he would fare better this time,” said Barry.
In the meantime, Moto2 rider, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman was short of his full potential when he crashed out in the World Championship (MotoGP) qualifying only to start on the 31st grid, clocking his best 1:45.511s earlier this morning in Jerez, Spain.
A double blow for Azlan in Jerez when he highsided not only in the qualifying but also in the earlier practice session.
“I need to turn things around tak quick to improve on my position in this championship. I will not stop as this is a learning curve for me. We’ll try a few more setups in the last practice session prior to the final race,” said the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia rider.
Team manager, Tadayuki Okada said, “He has shown progress despite the unfortunate crash and so is his machine. We’ll put an effort to find the missing link to smoothen his next run and avoid anymore crashes.”
Mika Kallio of Marc VDS Racing Team will start on pole after recording 1:42.766s as the fastest.
