Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia) has taken a top three finish before in the intermediate class of Grand Prix Racing – at his home circuit of Sepang back in 2012, when he was a wildcard. However, he didn’t visit parc ferme or the rostrum because a rider ahead was later disqualified from the race result – making his third place in a rain-soaked San Marino GP the first time he’d done both.
The Malaysian pushed hard to move up from P14 on the grid, but stayed within the limit and dealt with the conditions in style – more than earning his nickname ‘Pescao’ – the fish – once again.
Hafizh Syahrin, P3: “First I would like to thank my team very much, because we’ve worked hard for many races and years. We’ve been close to the podium but never on the podium, and this is my first podium as an official rider. In the Warm Up I felt confident, but there were many crashes. In the race I was scared a bit in the beginning but I saw many riders crash in front of me and I tried to slowly arrive to the front group. Not so close, but I was on the limit of crashing many times so I’m very happy and thank you to the team, who set up my bike. This is the first heavy rain in a race, because Brno was rainy but not so much. Maybe because I never gave up trying to stay at the front, I got this third place for my team.”