Hakim Danish issues an early warning in first free practice session

SEPANG - Sensational young Malaysian rider Hakim Danish Ramli served an early warning to his rivals by clocking the fifth-fastest time in the first free practice (FP1) session for the Moto3 class at the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (GP), held at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) today.

The 19-year-old, representing the AEON Credit-MT Helmets-MSI team, recorded a time of 2 minutes 11.834 seconds (s) to finish fifth just 0.249s behind the session's fastest rider, Spaniard Alvaro Carpe of Red Bull KTM Ajo team, who clocked 2:11.585s.

Spanish rider Maximo Quiles, from the CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team, took second place with a time of 2:11.714s, followed by his teammate, Argentine rider Marco Morelli, who clocked 2:11.720s.

Indonesian rider Veda Pratama, representing Honda Team Asia, rounded out the top four with a time of 2:11.819s-finishing just 0.015s ahead of Hakim Danish.

Another rider for the AEON Credit-MT Helmets-MSI team, Ryusei Yamanaka from Japan, finished the session in 13th place with a time of 2:12.397s.

Reflecting on Hakim Danish’s performance, Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer Azhan Shafriman Hanif said he wants the rider to deliver his best without the burden of pressure as he is now focusing on tomorrow’s qualifying session, hoping to secure a strong starting position ahead of Sunday’s race.

"As I said, there is no pressure. Hakim Danish just needs to do his best. We can see that today it’s still dry this morning, with no rain yet and we’ll observe his performance.

"The most important thing is the qualifying session; he needs to give his best tomorrow to secure a front-row starting position, and then continue to deliver his best performance this coming Sunday,” said Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer Azhan Shafriman Hanif when met after the race here today.

In the MotoGP class, Spanish rider Marc Marquez of the Ducati Lenovo Team emerged as the fastest, clocking a time of 1:58.737s, ahead of Italian challenger Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia Racing, who took second place with a time of 1:59.386s.

Spanish rider Pedro Acosta of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing finished third with the exact same time, while Italy’s Enea Bastianini, representing Red Bull KTM Tech3, also clocked 1:59.386s to secure fourth place.

Meanwhile, in the Moto2 class, Spanish rider Izan Guevara of the BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 team set the fastest time at 2:04.005s. Colombian rider David Alonso of the CFMOTO RCB Aspar Team took second place with a time of 2:04.568s, with his Spanish teammate Daniel Holgado also recording the same time.

The first free practice session took place on a dry track, with an air temperature of 28 degrees Celsius and 82 per cent humidity. - BERNAMA