It looks like Malaysian racer Hafizh Syahrin’s run at MotoGP comes to an end in 2020, with his place in Red Bull KTM Tech 3 taken by Brad Binder. Binder, who currently rides for the KTM Moto2 factory team, is currently eighth in the Moto2 championship standings.
Hafizh competed in Moto2 before moving up to MotoGP in 2018 with Tech3 under the mentorship of team principal Herve Poncheral. After moving to KTM from Yamaha, Tech3 has shown mixed fortunes in racing, despite Hafizh competing strongly for MotoGP Rookie of the Year in 2018, won by Franco Morbidelli.
Both KTM and Hafizh have remained tight-lipped about his future plans, but the Malaysian rider is set to leave MotoGP at the end of 2019. While the game of musical chairs for the 2020 MotoGP season has yet to start, it is likely Hafizh will return to Moto2.
Binder, who hails from South Africa, recently tookback-to-back second places at Assen and Sachsenring and is currently eighth in the Moto2 world championship. He is the only KTM rider in the top 15 of the Moto2 riders’ standings following the Austrian brand’s tough start to 2019.
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So expecting Petronas MotoGP team to ‘save’ him and give him a seat. Tis a season of ‘saving’ here and ‘saving’ there.
Thumbs down for KTM. Hafizh deserved better!
Hafizh should have continued his momentum with Yamaha machinery but was somehow made a highly ill-advised move to KTM. And another issue is, Asian riders must have solid backing from their home country to continue to ride in MotoGP (Takagami was backed by Honda). SIC Petronas has to do something about Hafizh !
I don’t think he made the move to KTM, the team he was riding on ended the collaboration with Yamaha and signed up with KTM to supply the bikes. Even his teammate Zarco who was quite highly rated struggled with the current machine.
Dear Jonn Dol,
Hafizh did not moved from Yamaha to KTM, but his team decided to switch manufacturer from Yamaha to KTM.
No that isn’t the way. He is at the top game now, he should rely on his wits and skills plus capabilities he learnt going up the ranks. Mandating the local team to back him only does him a disservice. He is better than that, better than those Malaysian ‘racers’ who were only there to fill in seat space and make a misguided old man proud, even if they more often that not failed to qualify or barely just so.
He has broke that trend and forged a path by his own merits. Now he faced his 1st real failure in his career and this is the stuff whether he can bounce back and do better. Real, worthy, champions does that.
Even if he were given a seat by Petronas, he shouldn’t accept it unless they can help him be better, not because they were forced to do so.
The thing is to date, Hafizh is the only Malaysian rider who has managed to break into the MotoGP ranks (ok maybe with some luck) and a frequent top 10 contenders during his Moto2 years. At this moment he is Malaysia’s best chance in MotoGP. And it’s quite a rare chance indeed. How many Asian riders had made it into the top GP class (500cc/MotoGP) other than Japanese riders? Nil. Maybe he has to go back to Moto2 next year, but what happens next remains to be seen. He is a fighter of course and has shown promising pace onboard the Yamaha. He deserved to be back in MotoGP. In some cases, help from home is sometime needed becoz like I said at this moment Hafizh is Malaysia’s best chance in MotoGP.
He came thru via merit and grit. He should prove to himself he can climb back via merit and grit. Home team can give him a seat only if he’d proven that he is still worthy of one.
If he start to relied on help, he will definitely regress. He needs to prove that he is a worthy rider & a worthy champion. At the top game, there is no room for ‘assistance’ as the results will be stark obvious.
I wish Malaysia had their own superbike. Pity we sold Mv Agusta for Euro $1. Otherwise, Hafizh can be proud to use a local Malaysian bike. It would have been better than KTM
You clearly don’t know anything about bikes nor motor racing. MV Augustas are terrible bikes for MotoGP racing, way too heavy and with zero racing pedigree.
MV Agusta is not Malaysian …only bought over by Malaysian company …and is not competitive enough to compete in any races…
Screw you and your insinuation.
There’s nothing wrong if Petronas saving him. Do we have another Malaysian rider with the right experience to ride in MotoGP class? None. A lot of Italian & Spanish based MotoGP teams have Italian & Spanish riders respectively.
There is everything wrong for Petronas to save him if he can no longer compete. He needs to show he is still worthy of a seat and literally rubbing shoulders with the top riders.
too bad that he lost the opportunity..unfortunately the results speaks for itself..maybe zarco next?
KTM machines are cruel to these ex-yamaha riders..lol
Rider bagus. Motor tak bagus. Kasihan Hafiz.
Its sad but thats the reality of ‘high end’ racing.
He will keep on racing, thats what rider do and will always do.
go back to moto2 can be a very risky decision but if petronas SRT willing to offer him a seat then why not since PAWI and the other rider who is replacing him are not performing
i believe in you. From now on, push harder and finish top 13 all the way so they can reverve their decision on you. Go Go…Hafizh
Cant bro, they signed with binder already for 2020
KTM motor sucks. even Zarco is struggling this year. There are few occasion hafizh has to retire from race due to ‘mechanical problems’ by KTM. Hafiz still have chance to attract other Yamaha satellite team. Bad choice of Tech 3 to part ways with Yamaha.
SIC motogp cant take hafizh since their two riders is already tied with 2 years contract.
tough luck for hafizh. still Malaysia’s best rider to date. Good luck for next year.
In fact ,most fans had a bad feeling when Hafizh continued with Tech 3 on board the KTM machinery this year. The right move should have been Hafizh being hired by SIC Petronas Yamaha team . But of course nothing could change the history. Perhaps , there could be a chance for Hafizh in 2021 to be back in MotoGP ,with SIC Petronas Yamaha..
It’s not only how powerful the engine is and sometimes a rider needs to think too.
If I am a team principal, I will also choose a good rider with proven track record (bran binder was 2016 moto3 champion). A good rider will help the team to improve the bike by giving input on ride performance etc.
Hi Doohan…my hero, long time no see..
I agree that a good rider will improve the machine but only up to certain extent. Each rider have different style,approach, preference, etc. Sometimes these character are not suited for the machine so bad result will take place.
If they manage to set the bike to the riders or the rider manage to suit himself then they will start to get result….consistent result which we can see on the middle pack of moto gp.
If they want better result such as podium they need to have a far superior machine compared to others which require more money.
Hafisz was doing good on Yamaha despite the one he rode is not the latest machinery. He is consistent on that bike but cant go further as others esp on factory bike got extra magic with their latest machine.
Speak too easy
Have u ever see how unlucky Rossi when he switch from Yamaha to Ducati ? A very Good Rider with back luck bike..
He should start early negotiating with Go Jek to sponsor a new team.
Main insta byk sgt tunjuk sana sini nubb
Pity. He got cap ayam motobike..
If im x mistaken, this is only the 2nd year for him in MotoGP….and he has been consistently underated unfortunately. But mark my words, his time of victory n glory is yet to come…and whn it does, its as if seeing a Phoenix rise from the ashes….
Good, now he can focus on being a fulltime clown.
Survival is not the game for the strongest nor the fittest anymore, its for the most adaptable. Yes Hafizh is a very good rider, but end of the day, a racer will always be compared to his teammate.
If you follow MotorGP closely, you will know that KTM is new to MotoGP. They were in Moto3 and Moto2 before and were quite successful.
So they tried to upgrade into MotoGP which they have no experience before. While the Big Boys like Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Ducati had many years to fine tune their bike, KTM had to practically start from zero.
And they are hoping to sign up top riders to crash the Big Boys party with their new and unrefined bikes.
It’s will take time and KTM is not willing to invest and is not patient enough to wait. They will keep changing riders and hopefully get the results while doing very little to improve their nonperforming bikes.
Hafiz is just a victim of circumstances. Unfortunately.
They may be new but they are arrogant. A prick of a CEO that criticizes his riders in the press. Shame for Hafiz but good riddance to bad rubbish. For guy who was challenging for rookie of the year last season he has been let down by a shit machine.
KTM CEO is so arrogant.. saying a yamaha is a easy bike for a rookie blah2 cant eccept people critizid their lame bike.. now Zarco career its on the brink for doom.. shame on you KTM.. yamaha have been developing their bike since yearssss a go.. plus all of their effort will goes to the commercial bikes.. they spend a lot but gain a lot like Ducati.. they are refined bike.. easy to control, big power and pushing the rider to the limit.. not like KTM unrefined wild buffalo!! how can a rider push to their best while the bike doesn’t want to.. a lesson to ex yamaha rider beware of KTM.
Ceo who is the guy
ive heard principal of petronas srt not that keen on getting hafizh syahrin for motogp. performance wise..he’s ok..not the best.. just average.. his fighting spirit and lack of communication input to the team.. by keep on saying he dont know what is wrong shows that he is not truly ready for the premier class. yes he is the best in south east asia.. but not enough. you got to understand.. a team is like a business.. a lot of sponsors need to be taken off.. is not like they care malaysian riders riding malaysian team.. they only care for results.. plus. hs55 lack of discipline as a premiere class rider will not get him.anywhere… is not just skill and experience.. his mindset needs improvement too.. should be grateful if he could still be in moto2 race.
Would be great to see him on a winning bike. Then only could we judge his performance. 1st year great job from him. Second year I honestly think it’s more the material then the Ride.
I think this is a good thing though. Zarco will leave ktm for sure after he calls ktm only can race in straight and many other things. But hafizh is not a rebel, he just follows everything and even ktm kicked him out, he still doesn’t say a bad thing about ktm. If ktm didn’t kicked him, he would be more seasons with that crappy bike
Ban KTM.
He always finish the race….and not the last position…better laa…
Boycott KTM sales, period.