RED Bull KTM Tech3 team principal Herve Poncharal is perplexed by Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah’s lacklustre performance when compared to rookie teammate Miguel Oliveira.
Poncharal praised Oliveira who had shown strong pace but crashed and re-mounted his bike to finish 18th at the German Motorcycle Grand Prix.
However, Poncharal made it clear he demands more from Hafizh who finished 16th on Sunday.
“He (Oliveira) pushed (hard) and was doing impressive lap times even with the bike quite damaged.
“What is leaving us even more sad is the fact that this (Oliveira’s) pace would have been good enough for top-10 or even top eight which would have been our best performance so far this season,” said Poncharal.
“This is a pity but I just want to say ‘Good job, Miguel! Thank you for staying on track, thank you for pushing (hard).
“On the other hand, I don’t know what to say, because Hafizh’s qualifying position was a bit better than Miguel’s.”
“I am disappointed with that result (16th), because I’m sure Hafizh had the possibility to score a point or two, minimum and we didn’t do it, which is a shame.”
Hafizh had started from 18th while Oliveira was 20th on the grid at the Sachsenring.
Oliveira is currently 18th in the overall premier class standings with 15 points while Hafizh is 25th with three points.