No stopping Hafizh despite back pain

Malaysia's Moto2 racer Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah wants to go all out for a front finish in the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit here tomorrow despite suffering back pain.

Despite the setback, the Petronas Raceline Malaysia rider managed to clinch 18th place on the grid for tomorrow's race after clocking two minutes and 8.558 seconds in the final qualifying session today.

"Initially I was among the top 15 but tyre problems allowed others to overtake me.

"Even though I will be starting in 18th place tomorrow, I am still confident of pulling some surprises, anything can happen in a race, what is important is the machine setting must be good," he told reporters.

Hafizh said he has been suffering the back pain since the Japan GP.

Another Malaysian rider, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) has to start from 29th position after clocking 2'09.813s in the qualifier.

Spaniard Esteve Rabat of Marc VDS Racing Team will be starting in pole position after posting the fastest time of 2'07.429s.

Joining him on the front grid are his teammate Finland's Mika Kallio who was just 0.158s slower and Germany's Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), who was 0.277s behind.