Hakim Danish delivered an impressive performance to finish the Brazil Grand Prix (GP) inside the top 10, earning six valuable points for his team.

The AEON Credit–MT Helmets–MSi rider showed strong pace from as early as the qualifying session at the Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia – Ayrton Senna on Saturday, where Danish staged a comeback to secure third place on the grid, his best qualifying result to date in the Moto3 class.

Despite a tense moment after crashing at Turn 6, the Terengganu-born rider showed great determination by bouncing back to record a fastest lap time of 1 minute 26.448 seconds. His effort was also supported by the swift response of the AEON Credit–MT Helmets–MSi crew, who ensured his machine was restored to optimal condition in a short time.

In the race, starting from the front row, Hakim Danish delivered an aggressive and consistent ride, running within the top five group several times in the early stages. However, the race intensified midway following an incident involving CIP Green Power rider Scott Ogden, which brought out the red flag on Lap 15.

The race was later restarted with five laps remaining, with Hakim Danish resuming from ninth position. He was briefly overtaken and dropped to 13th shortly after the restart.

Nevertheless, the 18-year-old remained composed and focused, fighting back to overtake several riders and eventually securing a 10th-place finish.

After two rounds, Danish now sits 13th overall with six points, marking a positive improvement from the season opener at the Thailand GP, where he finished in 18th place.

Hakim Danish: 

“First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who has continuously supported me at every race. The team also did an excellent job this week, especially in repairing my bike in a short time during the qualifying session.

Alhamdulillah, I managed to finish inside the top 10 in the race in Brazil. Earlier in the race, before the red flag, I had a good start from the front row and was able to challenge the leading group.

After the race was restarted following the red flag, the situation became more difficult for me as I almost crashed while trying to chase the front group. It was therefore tough to close the gap with only five laps remaining. Nevertheless, I am very happy with my performance throughout the week.

Next, I will focus to Austin and aim to do even better. Thank you to everyone who continues to support me.”

Team Manager Zulfahmi Khairuddin:

“Overall, this week has been good and positive. We learned a lot from the shortcomings we faced during the race in Thailand. Our objective in Brazil was to improve Danish’s riding performance, while the technical aspects of the motorcycle were handled by the team.

During the Free Practice and Qualifying sessions, we showed the potential to fight within the front group. Starting from third position gave us a good advantage for the race. In the race itself, we saw Hakim Danish deliver a strong and aggressive performance on track. However, there are still several areas that we need to improve.

I believe this is a clear step forward from Thailand to Brazil. Moving into this week at COTA, we hope to maintain the same positive progress. That said, I expect the COTA circuit to be quite challenging for Danish to adapt to. We are prepared to face the upcoming challenges and will continue working hard for the races ahead.”