KUALA LUMPUR: Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah will be placing added emphasis on qualifying well in what he anticipates will be a positive outing at the British Motorcycle Grand Prix this weekend.
The Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider, who finished out of the points at the Austrian GP a fortnight ago, believes the Silverstone circuit will be more suited to his YZR-M1.
Hafizh's race in Austria was held by back his poor performance in qualifying which saw him starting from a lowly 17th on the grid.
"It looks like it’s not going to be so difficult with the Yamaha there (Silverstone), so I hope we can improve on the last race starting from the first practice session right up to qualifying," said the MotoGP rookie.
"We have good pace in the race, but I need a better starting position.
"I guess it will be difficult there (personally) for the first time on the MotoGP machine, but I can’t wait to arrive and work hard in order to be stronger in the race, and better prepared for qualifying as well.
"I want to give my all for a good grid position, try to have a strong start and learn from the more experienced riders. I also hope we’ll have good weather in Silverstone."
Hafizh, who spent the last four seasons in Moto2, did well at Silverstone in 2016 when he qualified fifth and finished fourth in the race. He, however, found the going tough last year when he qualified 21st and finished the race out of the points in 17th.
The Ampang-born rider is currently 16th in the overall MotoGP rankings with 24 points and still leads the rookie classification with a marginal two-point advantage over second-place Franco Morbidelli.