Khairul Idham Pawi will return to the Moto3 World Championship in 2020 with PETRONAS Sprinta Racing, making a reappearance in the class where he won two races in his debut season in 2016.
KIP launched his Grand Prix racing career in the Moto3 class in spectacular fashion, winning his second race as a full-time rider in the class before going on to take a second victory later in the same year.
As part of the ongoing treatment to the injury sustained at the Spanish Grand Prix in May this year, KIP was operated on a third time on Tuesday this week at the Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre. His consequent recuperation plan will now concentrate on preparations for the 2020 season, meaning he will not return to Moto2 in 2019. Instead, he will be replaced for the remainder of the 2019 season by fellow Malaysian Adam Norrodin.
The 2020 Moto3 season will get underway in March next year, with the opening round at the Qatar Grand Prix provisionally scheduled for 8th March.
Razlan Razali – Team Principal
“After spending a lot of time analysing the options we decided with KIP that the best course was to ensure the best treatment possible for his hand injury, allowing time for full recuperation in 2019, rather than pushing for a return to Moto2. By KIP returning to Moto3 next year, he will be in an environment where he has stood on the top step before and we will be targeting strong results. Now the focus for KIP is his full recovery and he has our complete support in this. For the rest of the 2019 Moto2 season, Adam Norrodin will continue to ride as a part of his development programme.”
Johan Stigefelt – Team Director
“It’s obviously been a difficult year for KIP and we were initially too optimistic about him being able to return to action this season. With just five races left this season and another surgery yesterday there it did not make sense to target a return to Moto2 this year. For 2020, we will have a very strong rider line-up in Moto3 with KIP alongside John McPhee and we’re looking forward to the performance potential this provides.”
Khairul Idham Pawi
“I’m delighted to stay with the team for another year because it feels like one big family. I told them that I wanted to return to Moto3, and they’ve given me a great opportunity. It’s something that I want to make the most of because in 2016 I only had one year in the championship and I think I’ve still got things to learn. Having an experienced rider like John alongside me will be really useful for me too. My target for 2020 is to try and be at the front of the group. The recovery from my injury is taking a long time, which has been disappointing. There’s not much that I’ve been able to do apart from keeping working, but hopefully this latest operation will help me to recover.”
