The Tech 3 driver had a solid weekend in Japan and scored his second best result of the season, as he had planned before the Grand Prix.
Hafiz Syahrin arrived very motivated on the Motegi track following his good performance in Thailand where he finished twelfth. After a somewhat complicated period, he finally returned to the points and hoped to be able to repeat this result in Japan. He even showed optimism by announcing that he could perhaps finish in the top 10.
Rather comfortable during free practice, he managed to finish tenth in FP4 and held on in Q1. He was in fact one of the two drafted for Q2 during the first part of the session and ultimately had to lose by only a tenth. He therefore narrowly missed achieving his best qualification.
Starting sixteenth on the grid, he lost two places on the first lap, but quickly began to recover. Driver after driver, he overtook his opponents and reached tenth position, which he maintained until the finish line. He therefore perfectly achieved his objective for the weekend.
After his ninth place in Argentina, this top 10 is his second best result of the season and bodes very well for the rest of the overseas tour: “I'm really happy to finish in the top 10. That's what I always want and we achieved it for the second time, so I'm really happy. I thank the whole team because everyone did a good job. We always work very hard to be strong in the race and we must continue. Thank you also to the people for their support and especially to my family, who came to see me here. The next race is at Phillip Island and I'm going to do my best. It won't be easy, but I'm already looking forward to it and trying to be fit before my home Grand Prix in Malaysia. »
Syahrin finished, moreover, ahead of Franco Morbidelli from whom he took a point for the best rookie classification.
Japanese Grand Prix, Motegi, MotoGP J.3: Ranking
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 42'36.438
2 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda +1.573
3 42 Alex RINS Suzuki +1.720
4 46 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha +6.413
5 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati +6.919
6 5 Johann ZARCO Yamaha +8.024
7 25 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha +13.330
8 26 Dani PEDROSA Honda +15.582
9 9 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati +20.584
10 55 Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha +24.985
11 21 Franco MORBIDELLI Honda +25.931
12 38 Bradley SMITH KTM +26.875
13 44 Pol ESPARGARO KTM +27.069
14 89 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha +32.550
15 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda +37.718
16 10 Xavier SIMEON Ducati +39.583
17 81 Jordi TORRES Ducati +39.839
18 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati +42.698
19 45 Scott REDDING Aprilia +49.943
20 12 Thomas LUTHI Honda +52.707
21 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki +1'01.848
Not Classified
29 Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 10 Laps
17 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 12 Laps
43 Jack MILLER Ducati 14 Laps
41 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 18 Laps
