Punishing Sunday ends without points for Syahrin

Hafizh Syahrin's third race day as a MotoGP rider got off to a scary start when he was thrown from his Monster Yamaha Tech3 bike on the out-lap of morning warm-up.

Taken to the Medical Centre for checks, the Malaysian was fortunately given the all-clear to race but missed the entire warm-up session.

Syahrin showed no hesitation as he charged from 16th to twelfth by the end of the opening lap, a position he was holding when he slid into his first MotoGP non-finish after a mistake at Turn 1 on lap 9 of 20.

“I felt really strong at the start of the race, but maybe I was pushing a bit too much on the brakes. I had some great sensations and a truly good pace, but honestly, I’m a bit disappointed for myself," he said.

"This morning we had a huge crash and didn't try a different setup, therefore we had to go back to the Free Practice settings and the bike was quite soft. Anyway, I was one of the strongest rookies on this difficult track, but leaving it a bit defeated to lose the points of round three.

"I just lost the front, which was maybe because I tried to fight with a Ducati, which is very fast on the straight, so I tried to make up for it on the brake.

"Yet, I’m sure to be back strong at the next race.”

Team manager Herve Poncharal said: "I feel really sorry for Hafizh, who did another excellent weekend. It could have been a really strong finish, but the crash in the warm-up trying a new tyre brought him almost out of contention.

"Bravely he wanted to start the race, he did, he was fast, but he made a small mistake that caused him the crash.

"Anyway, he is still leading the rookie classification, which we are very proud of. He’s learning and I think will be very strong in Spain and France. Get well soon, Hafizh, look at your body and recover well!"

With Takaaki Nakagami the only rookie to score points on Sunday, Syahrin continues to be the top newcomer in the world championship standings, in 13th overall.