Hafizh Syahrin is off to a good start in his premier class career, with the Malaysian taking part in the #ThaiTest at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 with a view to replacing Jonas Folger for the full season. The ‘Pescao’, the first Malaysian in MotoGP™, put in a solid first session and was within half a second of fellow rookies Tom Lüthi (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Xavier Simeon (Reale Avintia Racing).
“The first thing it’s an amazing bike, so much faster…every time I go it’s like a jet down the straight!” says the Malaysian, comparing the differences between Moto2™ and MotoGP™. “There’s a lot of difference in the tyres, we have launch and traction control…for me it helps a lot on the exit, when you open the gas the bike is calm. I’m looking forward to understanding it more.”
And overall? All positive, as can be expected from the timesheets.
“I feel good with the bike and with the team,” affirms ‘Pescao’. “They understand me because it’s my first time here. It’s not bad, I improved every session I went out and for my first day I think it was very positive. I’m not so far from the front, I’m not so far from Lüthi. But I’m trying to get closer step by step.”
Day 2 will see Syahrin back on the bike from 9:30am (GMT +7) on Saturday.