Racing is a harsh mistress, as Malaysian racer Khairul Idham Pawi, a.k.a. “Super KIP” found out after receiving marching orders from Petronas Sprinta Racing (PSR) in the Moto 3 category of the MotoGP World Championship. An injury suffered during qualifying for the Czech Republic Grand Prix resulted in Khairul needing surgery and amputation of a finger.
With Super KIP serving out his contract term of four more races for PSR, his place has been taken by South African Darryn Binder, with one Moto 3 victory and a second place finish to his name. Binder, nicknamed “Divebomb Darryn” for his aggressive riding, is currently riding for CIP Green Power before moving to PSR in 2021, riding with current PSR rider John McPhee.
But right now, Khairul is left without a ride for next year’s race calendar and questions were being asked about the team structure and “what is a Malaysian racing team without Malaysian riders?” Sepang International Circuit (SIC) organised a video press conference with Datuk Razlan Razali, team principal of Petronas Sprinta Racing as well as Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (SRT) and PSR in Moto 2, to shed some light on the matter.
“It’s all about performance,” said Razlan in his opening comments. “We absorbed Khairul in our Moto 2 team in the beginning (2019) with the expectation he would fight for his target which was to at least be in the points,” Razlan said.
“After his unfortunate injury in Jerez last year where he hurt his finger, a decision was made to demote him to Moto 3, where he had previously won a race in 2016,” continued Razlan. “The target we set for Khairul was in the top 15, in the points,” said Razlan.”
Super KIP was expected to improve his performance after surgery at the Misano round with Khairul’s race target adjusted for him to show in the top 20, elaborated Razlan. “He finished among the back markers and again, possibly because of his finger injury, we made an exception heading into Catalunya, one of his favourite tracks,” the PSR team principal said.
Unfortunately, Khairul’s poor performance continued into the Le Mans and Aragon rounds and despite full support from the team, there was no improvement. “At the point we were perplexed at Khairul’s performance, it’s not like we were asking for a podium or even the top 15, we only wanted a top 20. Finally, all we said to Khairul was “don’t come last,”” said Razlan.
“It is difficult for us with our objective of being a professional team, a competitive team and with six riders, we have one Malaysian rider who could not improve,” Razlan added. “I am the first person to support Malaysian riders with potential to come into our team but we had to make the difficult decision to let him him (Khairul) go,” he said.
“If a Malaysian rider does not perform, does not get results, I will be the one to make the decision to not renew his contract,” said Razlan. As for Khairul’s future racing career, Razlan expressed the hope Super KIP would use the opportunity to continue working hard for the remaining four races in the season to improve his chances for the future.
Talking about future opportunities for Malaysian riders in 2022 and beyond, Razlan emphasised the fact that PSR is a Malaysian team, with six out of 56 team members Malaysian and 22 other nationalities. “There are two aspects to this, one, we have a Malaysian team that is run by Malaysians, and two, is to develop Malaysian talent. The infrastructure is there for Malaysian talent,” Razlan said.
But infrastructure and having a Malaysian racer is not the only part of the equation as Razlan explained. “We want to make sure that the Malaysian talent has the potential, that is competitive in every sense of a rider. So, with that, together with SIC we are developing a couple of riders in the FIM CEV junior championship the likes of Adam Norrodin and Syariffudin Azman,” he said.
“Unfortunately, they are not ready. Those that are in CEV are not ready to be brought up into the world championship and that person is Syariffudin,” said Razlan. “I do not want to bring a guy right now for the sake of filling in the gap that we have no Malaysian (riders),” he continued.
Touching on the subject of Malaysian race fans, many of whom are commenting on Khairul’s dismissal and opportunities for Malaysian riders, Razlan said they are emotional and passionate and accepts that PSR will receive a lot of criticism. “We cannot please everybody but we ask for them to be patient, we are developing young riders but we do not want to put a boy who is not ready under undue pressure,” said Razlan.
“If we put the boy in the Moto 3 world championship, yes, the fans will say well done Sepang Racing Team, fantastic.” “But if the boy doesn’t do well, the same fans will criticise this boy,” Razlan said.
Razlan says such comments will have the effect of demoralising and demotivating him, not just from the fans but also from his own performance because he is not ready. “We have experienced this before with Fahmi, with Adam, with KIP because our boys, they are super talented. In terms of talent they are comparable to the Europeans,” he said.
“But what they are lacking of is in terms of mental strength. The moment the slightest issue that people criticise them or they don’t do well their mental strength just drops and their performance drops,” Razlan explained. A team programme of communication and mental strength training is there to help Malaysian riders adapt to the high level of competition in Moto 3.
Razlan did express some confusion as to why Khairul did not avail himself to every possible avenue of help within the team, aside from his crew chief. “We have channels of communication within the team for crew chiefs to talk to one another, to share data and setups,” Razlan said.
“If a rider is in a difficult situation I would expect them to spend more time analysing data, analysing videos and that is something I don’t see with our Malaysian riders,” said Razlan. “With the European riders, they spend a lot of time analysing data and don’t forget we also have a riders’ coach, an ex-rider, he is a rider coach for all our riders that need him,” added Razlan.
“A rider can easily go to him and consult and seek advice on what he needs to do on the track. What I am saying is if a rider is on a situation where he needs to do better what I expect is for him to spend more time talking to their crew chief, our riders coach or other riders in other categories,” Razlan said.
As team principal, Razlan expects that every rider and every team member must help each other irrespective of category, as a direct instruction from him. “And we have seen that. Why I think Jake Dixon – riding in Moto 2 – does very well, to some extent, is that his team went to Franco Morbidelli’s team and consulted on how to do better. Same with all the other riders, if they feel the need to do better, by all means please do so,” added Razlan.
“The minimum KIP should do (in this situation) is to talk to his team mate. He has a fast team mate. It is impossible for us not to do a good setting for KIP when we can do it for John. To some extent, whether KIP likes it or not, his crew chief tried to do the same setting as John McPhee. But he needs to talk, if he keeps quiet to himself, that’s it. He has to communicate, to seek advice, to compare data.”
“KIP has six years in the championship, he’s not a rookie. He needs to do something for himself. If he was a rookie we would treat him as a rookie rider and what a rookie expects,” Razlan said. “But he’s not, he’s a seasoned Moto 2 and Moto 3 rider.”
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Agreed with Tok Lan… 100%. May the force with you Tok Lan & team.
Asians are quiet and reserved. Super KIP needs to talk, if he keeps quiet to himself, that’s it. He has to communicate, to seek advice..Bukan diam2 ubi berisi. John McPhee is fast..Angmohs are loud and vocal, tak bodosombong. Tongkat & plotek kenot work bhoys
Menghabiskan beras.
Habiskan beras yg dia beli hasil penat lelah dia berlumba seluruh dunia , bukan beras nenek engkau. At least he won two Moto3 races. Kau ada?
Dia menghabiskan beras dan air liur.
It is not about Malaysian rider, a Bumiputera or anything to do with it. It is attitude.
In this highly competitive environment, KIP should up his ante with rigorous training, special treatment for his injury, consulting with the coach and team all the time which has been provided for him, or even give input to the engineering team.
When everyone in the team is training, he’s with Hafiz doing what? Cycling.
Lee Chong Wei resort to special treatment which landed him into trouble, doping charge. Mokhtar Dahari; his team mate all going back home after training session but he stay for another hour to extend his training.
You have to do the extraordinary to get extraordinary result. Just have a look at all the greatest sportmens.
It is not you are brave enough to daredevil rempit, you can be the best rider.
Kalau Abang Ajai habaq cengini awai awai, takdak la Dik Minah hangin satu badan tadi. Peace.
Well said.its about the performance and result.spending millions for rider who just race for last spot everytime is just useless.race in cubprix at litar pasir gudang sudahla..
Well said Razlan. Please do continue to develop our local talent, make them becomes world class rider and ensure to make Malaysia proud.
Kemon Razlan.. Where is your sense of Negaraku.
A malaysian team should not just develop malaysian riders. It should also develop malaysian race technician and engineers. There should be at least 20% of the manpower coming from malaysia. The team should also scout malaysian crews from cubprix and techical institutes, and have a program for intern crews.
If they cant make the cut then work harder.
I disagree with preset figure in such venture.
I believe they did their scouting process, if not where does the current local talent comes from. The problem is again, not much local talent can make the cut.
Technical experience is one thing. Even if we have a lot of talent but our talent have like in this case weak mental strength or attitude, they cant survive. Dont forget the personal sacrifice they must be prepared to make should they choose such field.
Here we go… pre-set numbers, quota. Please be competitive. Look at Geely’s design studio personnel, R&D team. Multinational and global.
Geely design?
The SRT MotoGP team is basically burning the RAKYAT’s money! Malaysian Government thru Petronas is bankrolling that outfit, that is the most important thing that they must remember. Which is why they should spend at least some of those money to develop the human resources of Malaysian people, thru the riders or the team crews.
So it is very important that the SRT should be a conduit for developing malaysian talents in motorsport, not just riders, but team crews, from managers, physiotherapists, chefs, engineers, IT specialists to motorcycle technicians .
Actually, Petronas engine oil is sold in Europe too. Racing is simply a kind of advertisement.
He’s (KIP) going to miss a very big chance of being with VR46 under the same roof… and learn from his vast experience!
Whoever asks the question on how come “a Malaysian team doesn’t have a Malaysian rider” is stuck in the past. Razlan is spot on when he says “it is about your performance”. Ask F1 teams on the same issue.
Unless u are a banana or coconut, it would be difficult to adapt and be successful in this ang moh circus. Even Japanese riders cant do it.
It’s no use of been a jagoh kampong if you are in Motorgp . Well said datuk., end of the day it’s about results.
Should give him a chance & demote him to kapchai mah.
It’s weird to see one rider fighting in front for podium and the other one last three position. PSR can copy AMG Petronas F1 Team by staying professional and committed to succces. Fabio and Franco are like Hamilton and Bottas already. Vierge and Dixon are a big potential.
Fabio n franco both oredi got no.1 on podium,so did john.now hoping for jake n xavi to do so in the last 4 races.the malaysian rider?get 1 race point from 4 races ok laa..
maybe he’s hoping for a wet rain just like what he did in moto 3 last time. suddenly zulfahmi khairuddin come across my mind.
AMG Petronas F1 team is not owned by petronas/malaysia. We simply sponsor them.
Petronas SRT is our own malaysian team. With Malaysian boss and fully funded by malaysia. We fully make the decisions for the team.
So there is quite a big difference.
Dato, pendapat saya, okey Dato’ gugurkan akibat kegagalan Super KIP tapi sudah ke Dato’ tanya apa yang berlaku pada diri dia, Struggle selepas terpaksa buang jari. atleast masukkan la dia ke CEV balik ke, asah balik..dia dan hafizh melalui tahun yang sukar. Adam dan Syarifuddin boleh pulak dato anggap belum bersedia…kembalikan dia di CEV bersama dengan Syarifuddin dan dua lagi product ZK63 yg masih terkial-kial di CEV… takpe Dato’ nak jaga Prestij Tema tapi bantu la…bukan dato’ tak tahu keadaan dia…spt kata wak Lan rider Malaysia perlukan support metal strenght…Pandangan je dato’ , its up to you..then..
pendapat anda ada benarnye tetapi kita harus terus lihat kehadapan dan beri peluang kepada pelumba lain untuk mencapai impian. seperti kata dato razlan pelumba tempatan masih belum bersedia jadi petronas sprinta racing tidak boleh menunggu dan melihat pasukan lain terus maju hanya kerana hendak perbetulkan ‘mental strenght’ seseorang. peace
problem with petronas is there’s no local development support aside from cub prix. ditch cub prix and replace with moto 3 or moto 2 style racing in our local scene, and see the riders bloom, rather than wasting money in motogp for angmoh riders.
again, petronas is a world branding glc. their aim is world. so they must look international. they are not in motogp to do public service
look at repsol. they support spanish talents. petronas in motogp should be a public service to develop malaysian human resources in motorsport, not just riders but talents in every part of the motogp circus
Do you think repsol doing the same like petronas building up riders from grassroot? Or just stamp their corporate logo as sponsor, and which spanish talents other than Marquez brothers that they supported?
You must not be a MOTOGP fan.
Every successful Spanish rider, was sponsored by Repsol sometime in their career.
Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales for example, was sponsored by Repsol in Moto3 and moto2.
Even Honda Repsol MotoGP team has only taken spanish riders exclusively since 2013.
that’s my point. if petronas keep sponsoring local riders without any positive outcome people will say they’re wasting rakyat money. on marketing wise not good for branding. that is pure wasting money. btw by adding alex rins and vinales in your repsol list doesn’t make you look smarter..peace.
Do you think repsol doing the same like petronas building up riders from grassroot? Or just stamp their corporate logo as sponsor, and which spanish talents other than Marquez brothers that they supported?
Dah la x yah la join motogp. Stop sponsor merc kat f1 bazir duit rakyat je