KUALA LUMPUR: Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah made a solid start to his MotoGP season after emerging as the fastest rookie in the first free practice session at the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix earlier today (Friday).
The Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider, who was signed as a late replacement for the ill Jonas Folger, clocked one minute and 56.544 seconds to place a respectable15th at the end of the session at the Losail International Circuit.
Teammate Johann Zarco of France, last season’s Rookie of the Year, was fifth fastest clocking 1:55.943s, while Italian Andrea Dovizioso, riding a factory Ducati, topped the session with a time of 1:55.366s.
Earlier in Moto2, Khairul Idham Pawi (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and rookie Zulfahmi Khairuddin (SIC Racing Team) were both well off the pace, settling for 29th (2:04.370s) and 31st (2:05.848s) respectively.
Italian Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) topped the Moto2 timesheets clocking 2:01.601s.
Petronas Sprinta Racing's Adam Norrodin fared much better in Moto3 as his 2:09.255s timing was good for 18th. Teammate Ayumu Sasaki (Japan), who suffered a minor crash during the session, was 21st with a timing of 2:09.387s.
Italian Enea Bastianini set the early pace in Moto3 after clocking 2:07.741s.
The second free practice session will be held later tonight.