Starting second from last at the MotoGP Grand Prix of Argentina, Malaysian Hafizh Syahrin, also known as “El Pescao” powered his way up the field to finish ninth on his Yamaha YZR-M1. This gives Hafizh seven championship points, adding to his previous tally of two from his MotoGP debut at Qatar for a running total of nine points.
With nine points, Hafizh stands at 13th position in the world championship rankings, and at the top of the Rookie of the Year table. He is three and six points ahead of rookie rivals Franc Morbidelli of Italy and Takaaki Nakagami of Japan, respectively.
The second MotoGP race of the season saw a lot of drama, with a delayed start when riders opted to pit for a tyre change to slicks from wets due to a rapidly drying track. Australian Jack Miller, riding a Ducati GP17 for satellite team Pramac Racing, alone at the front of the grid.
Race start resumed with all riders, save Miller, relegated several rows back on the grid. However, Miller’s solo start was short-lived as he was quickly caught by current MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez.
Marquez happened to collect a ride-through penalty for clashing with Valentino Rossi that dropped him to 19th position, eventually finishing 18th. Marquez made a move that forced Rossi onto the grass, causing him to drop his Yamaha, though he was able to remount and restart the bike.
This left Miller, Alex Rins, Johann Zarco and Cal Crutchlow in the leading pack, with Crutchlow of CWM LCR Honda on a Honda RC213-V taking the win in a time of 40 minutes 36.342 seconds. In second place was Hafizh’s Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team mate Zarco, 0.251 of a second behind, and Rins on a Suzuki in third.
Crowd favourite Rossi finished the race at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in 19th place while Jorge Lorenzo ended up 15th with Ducati team mate Andrea Dovizioso in sixth. In Moto2, Khairul Idham Pawi, riding for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia finished 24th, and fellow Malaysian Zulfhami Khairuddin of SIC Racing Team in 26th.
In Moto3, Adam Norrodin of Petronas Sprinta Racing gained fifth place in this hard fought racing class, giving him 11 championship points. Next race for the 2018 MotoGP season is at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on April 22.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Bravo “El Pescao”!
MY memang BOLEH!
Tahniah Hafizh and Adam!
he should show case the world superman ride when crossing the flag if he finish #1 …LOL
The rempit superman is the wimpy version of the real thing. It’s embarassing. It’s a rempit thing that Hafiz was never a part of. So no, never show it off.
congrats…..
Congrats Hafizh!
keep up the good momentum and get the rookie of the year title!
Zulfahmi, he as been given so many second chances, it is time for him to really give way to many that ar
terbaik hafizh… we all proud of u
Congrats Hafizh!
Adam Norrodin scored 11 points by finishing 5th in Argentina. Not seven points.
Thanks for spotting the error. A correction has been made.
wow congrats!! #55
Tahniah Hafizh. Don’t stop.
Bravooo!!! Hafizh boleh!!
Marquez’s ride through penalty was not for the incident with Rossi. It was for re-starting a stalled bike on the race grid. Marquez still finished 5th but was handed a 30s penalty for irresponsible riding after pushing Rossi wide and causing his crash.
That’s true. The ride through was for the startline infringement and the 30s penalty was for his clash with Rossi. Gotta suck when you have such a huge machine advantage but then throw it all away. Ah well…he’s favourite to win at COTA because he’s always won the COTA race.
Congrats hafizh and adam. Make us proud…
Syabas Hafizh and Adam!
Well done HS55 !!!
the ride through penalty was due to marques did not follow marshall’s instruction and ride his bike the opposite way.. the clash with rossi had him relegated to 18 position from fifth. tq
top rookie..good job!
“Actually, everything was (verbally) confirmed on the first day of the Sepang winter test – Herve, Yamaha and even Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna CEO) all wanted Hafizh but there was a problem with one of the sponsors who did not want him because he is not a big name in the sport.
“But Herve stood firm and told me he would still proceed with signing Hafizh. Of course, Herve had to take a softer, more professional approach with sponsors, especially as this particular one has been with them for a long time.
“But he also told me that they don’t have the right to choose who rides for the team.
“We talked on the phone every day and in fact he even said that he would go as far as letting the sponsor go if they did not accept Hafizh, it (his support for hafizh) was to that extent.
“In the end, it all turned out well and I believe the sponsors have also accepted Hafizh. From what I see, the team are behind Hafizh and as I have said before, I will leave it to them to develop him as a rider.”
And someone dare alleged Hafizh had no help to reach where he is now. Pfft! No self-respecting champion has ever claimed he did it all on his own. Such fakery from that person.
Monster kah ?