MotoGP: Ramdan Rosli, Hafizh Syahrin need to step up in tomorrow's race

The country's Moto2 riders Ramdan Rosli and Hafiz Syahrin Abdullah need to double their efforts in the race tomorrow, as they only managed to grab 12th and 14th positions in the qualifying session of the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here today.

Ramdan, who represents Petronas AHM Malaysia clocked in at two minutes 22.697 seconds while Hafiz Syahrin of Petronas Raceline Malaysia recorded a time of 2:23.213s.

Ramdan, a wild card rider, said he did not expect to be in the top 12 in his second appearance at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).

"I'm very happy with the achievement today because this is my second appearance at Sepang, and my best result in a qualifying session in the MotoGP.

"My target tomorrow is definitely to complete the race, and I will try my best to score points at home," he told reporters after the qualifying session.

Meanwhile, Hafiz Syahrin, who is known as 'Pescao55', said he was not too concerned about finishing 14th in the qualifying round.

"My performance was somewhat better than yesterday, probably during the qualifying session, the weather was quite difficult to predict to choose the right tyres or plan a strategy.

"I should have changed to dry tyres at the end of the qualifying session, but I was skeptical and did not want to take the risk. I am confident that for the race tomorrow, I can catch up with the front runners," he said.

Ajo Motorsport rider Johann Zarco of France will be in pole position in tomorrow's race, after clocking in at 2:18.621s.

Estrella Galicia 0,0, Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli and Axel Pons (of AGR Team) secured the second and third positions after posting times of 2:20.755s and 2:21.383s respectively. -- Bernama