KUALA LUMPUR: All three Malaysian riders at the Circuit of the Americas meet in Austin achieved disappointing results, and will be starting on the grid on race day in 19th place onwards.
To take place early Monday morning local time, race day will see Moto2’s Hafizh Syahrin start in 19th position, after he clocked his best effort of 21:10.804 seconds, 1.380s behind current World Standings leader, Franco Morbidelli at 2:09.379s.
Citing ‘turning problems’ as his setback with his Kalex bike, Hafizh said he needs to push hard to move up from 19th on Monday.
“The rear was sliding and spinning this time, and it did not help in pushing the bike forward.
“I am not happy with the grid position as I know I could do better,” he said.
Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Khairul Idham Pawi, meanwhile, continues to disappoint, managing only 28th position on the grid after completing the qualifiers at 2:11.715 seconds, 2.336s from Morbidelli, to make up the bottom five of the pack.
Elsewhere, Moto3 will see SIC Racing Team’s Adam Norrodin at grid number 25, following his effort of 2:17.410 seconds, 2.682 from leader, Spaniard Aron Canet, with a time of 2:14.644s.
For Adam, it was the daunting track, more than mechanical errors with his Honda machine, which set him back.
“This track is not so easy to adapt to. If you get anything wrong here, it instantly destroys your rhythm for the rest of the lap, and you lose so much time.
“I wasted too much time and was not my best, so, now I must learn from this and come back stronger,” he said.
Adam’s teammate, Japan’s Ayumu Sasaki, improved his performance for a best effort of 2:16.862 seconds to start at 17th.