KUALA LUMPUR: Sepang International Circuit (SIC) are hoping to secure Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah a seat in a Japanese team when he makes an anticipated step up to MotoGP in 2019.
SIC chief executive officer Datuk Razlan Razali said it would be the most practical solution for both the team and SIC.
"We can actually count the number of MotoGP teams that are potentially available for Hafizh in 2019," said Razlan.
"The HRC factory Honda and LCR Honda teams have secured their riders until 2019 and the same goes for the factory Yamaha and Yamaha Tech 3 teams.
"I would say the likes of Suzuki (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Italy's Ducati teams (factory Ducati and Octo Pramac) are the teams we could possibly approach.
"But I would still prefer to work with a Japanese team for a number of reasons. We will be able to commercialise things better for the team in Malaysia (if they are Japanese)."
Hafizh will join the newly-formed Petronas Sprinta Racing Moto2 team which will be setup and managed by SIC.
The 23-year-old, however, needs to achieve his overall top-five KPI in Moto2 next season before SIC can help him move up to MotoGP.
Razlan added that setting up a new MotoGP team, as they are doing now in Moto2, for Hafizh is out of the question.
"Setting up a new MotoGP team requires a lot of experience and expertise, both of which we do not have at the moment.
"The best solution is to place Hafizh in a pre-existing team which is what we did back in the beginning (with Zulfahmi Khairuddin),” he added.
Hafizh is determined to make the step up to MotoGP having already spent four full seasons in Moto2 with Petronas Raceline.