MotoGP: Hafizh Syahrin's contract still under negotiation

The contract of national Moto2 racer, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah with the main sponsor, Petronas, for the World Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) next season, is still at the negotiation stage.

Petronas Raceline Malaysia manager, Barry Leong said Hafizh Syahrin, who had been with the team for three years, was growing more mature with each race.

He said the 22-year-old rider had achieved his initial target to be in the world top eight group in the Moto2 class with 103 points after 14 races this season.

"On the contract, we are still at the negotiation stage with the sponsor (Petronas), nonetheless, we have registered Hafizh with Dorna (MotoGP organising body) for the race next year.

"Personally I want Hafizh to race next season as we are confident he would be capable of doing something. This year we targeted him to be in the top 10 group but he exceeded the target.

"After the race season ends, Hafizh needed to be more focused for the podium, he needed to demonstrate his desire to win," he told reporters.

Barry said next year would be even more challenging for Hafizh Syahrin when the team was targeting podium finish for the racer.

"Most riders, after one or two years in action in MotoGP and did not achieve good results would quickly lose confidence, but not with Hafizh who was always learning and sharing information with the team," he said.

At the start of this season in Qatar, Hafizh Syahrin almost clinched a podium position when he emerged fourth and was also placed in the same position at the Catalunya Circuit, in Spain and the Silverstone in United Kingdom. -- Bernama