MotoGP: Choosing wrong tyres proves costly for Adam, Khairul Idham

Choosing tyres that were not suitable with the wet surface of the track was the main cause of the poor performance by the country's two Moto3 riders, Adam Noroddin and Khairul Idham Pawi, in the qualifying round of the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here today.

Adam, who represents Drive M7 SIC Racing Team, clocked in at two minutes 28.965 seconds while Khairul Idham of Asian Honda Team finished 2:28.989s, putting them in 18th and 20th positions respectively in the Moto3 race tomorrow.

Adam apologised to the fans for his poor performance today and said he himself was disappointed with the result.

"There were some mistakes in the early rounds where we used the 'slick' (dry) tyres and it was costly today. From there, I realised that the teams which used the wet tyres were much faster in the circuit conditions. Due to the mistake, we wasted time as we needed to change the settings for the bike," Adam told reporters.

Khairul Idham agreed with Adam, saying the wrong choice of tyres made it difficult to record a better time.

READ: Khairul Idham third fastest in Moto3 practice session

"The qualifying session was quite difficult because I was not confident like yesterday (practice session). This morning I fell down twice. That's probably why I lost some confidence and concentration," explained the rider nicknamed 'Super KIP'.

Meanwhile, another Malaysian rider from the Peugeot MC Saxoprint team, Hafiq Azmi, will be competing on the 'wildcard' ticket in the 22nd position, with a time of 2:29.334s.

Red Bull KTM Ajo's rider Brad Binder of Russia will start in pole position in tomorrow's race, after clocking 2:26.268s.

Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider Jorge Navarro, and Francesco Bagnaia (Pull & Bear Mahindra Aspar Team) will start in the second and third position after posting times of 2:26.361s and 2:26.395s respectively. -- Bernama