Malaysian Moto3 rider Hakim Danish secured a 12th-place finish at the San Marino Grand Prix (GP) after starting the race from 25th on the grid at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, earning four valuable points towards his Moto3 World Championship campaign.

Starting from the back of the grid following a grid penalty, the 19-year-old gradually moved through the field from the opening lap, overtaking three riders to move up to 22nd.

Hakim Danish continued to make progress over the following laps, moving up to 20th, 19th and then 18th by the end of Lap 4. Despite dropping back to 19th on Laps 5 and 6 amid intense battles, he responded by moving up to 16th on Lap 7.

By Lap 8, Hakim Danish had entered the points-paying positions in 15th and remained in contention within the group through the middle stages of the race.

From Laps 11 to 17, the Terengganu-born rider was involved in a close battle, exchanging positions between 14th and 15th before making further progress in the closing stages.

Hakim Danish moved up to 13th on Laps 18 and 19 before crossing the finish line in 12th.

The result saw him gain 13 positions from his starting grid spot and add four points to his season tally.

With 94 points, Hakim Danish currently sits eighth in the Moto3 World Championship standings. With eight races remaining, the Rookie of the Year battle remains open, with the standings still capable of changing over the remaining rounds.

For ZK Racing, the result in Misano provides another four points towards Hakim Danish’s campaign as he continues his development throughout the season. The focus now remains on maintaining consistency and closing the gap to his nearest rivals in the remaining races.

Hakim Danish:

“Overall, I’m not too satisfied with the result today. However, I’m still happy that I managed to fight back after starting from the back of the grid and make my way back into the front group.

I tried to chase the riders ahead and apply pressure from the beginning of the race all the way to the chequered flag. I never gave up and continued to give everything I had throughout the race.

I feel that this race helped me regain my confidence and get back in sync with the bike. I found a better feeling while riding and was able to push harder.

At the same time, I learned a lot from this race, especially in terms of race management and making the right decisions when riding within a group.

For the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix, I want to work on the weaknesses I showed this weekend. Most importantly, I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.

I will try to prepare as well as possible and give my best in Austria. I want to continue building this momentum and make an even stronger comeback.”

Zulfahmi Khairuddin:

“The Misano weekend was a challenging one for Danish and the team. His adaptation to the circuit was a little slower due to the weather conditions, with FP1 taking place in the wet, while FP2 was also affected by similar conditions.

Unfortunately, during the practice session, Danish experienced a technical issue with his motorcycle towards the end of the session, which meant he had to go through Q1.

During Q1, Danish was handed a penalty for riding too slowly in several sectors. This is part of the challenge in Moto3, and it is something we constantly need to remind Danish about, particularly when riders are looking to gain an advantage from the slipstream.

However, we saw Danish give his best in the race despite the penalty. He started from 25th on the grid and fought his way back to finish 12th.

I hope we do not see a penalty like this again, and I believe the pace Danish showed in yesterday’s race was actually on par with the riders in the top six.

I believe in Hakim Danish’s potential. However, sometimes small mistakes can have a big impact on our entire race weekend.”