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Hafizh Syahrin appeared impressive in two Czech Republic MotoGP free practice. Behind that performance, there was an attempt by Syahrin to imitate Jorge Lorenzo's style.
Syahrin only ranked 13th in the first free Czech MotoGP training at Brno Circuit on Friday (08/03/2018). Note the time the Tech3 Yamaha rider was 0.781 seconds adrift of his team mate, Johann Zarco, who became the fastest rider.
However, Syahrin was able to improve his position in the second free practice. The Malaysian rider soared to fourth with a time of 1 minute 56,200 seconds. He only lost 0.224 seconds from Dani Pedrosa who recorded the fastest time.
For Syahrin, this is the best result he got on Friday in all MotoGP series that have been held this season.
"First of all, I didn't believe what I did in the two series on the first day. In the second session, I tried to improve my time record and when I got off the track I was sure I could improve from the morning session. The team tried to give the best motorbike suit , "Syahrin said on the official MotoGP website.
"In the end, I felt good on the motorbike. I tried hard tires in front and back. At first I wasn't too confident with hard tires because I crashed in Austin with that tire. But, with hot conditions like this, I made good step, "he added.
Syahrin said he tried to imitate Lorenzo's style in Brno when the Spanish rider was still defending Yamaha. What is the reason?
"I tried to ride a motorbike smoothly. We know that Lorenzo is very strong with Yamaha here and I am trying to emulate the racing style in Brno," he said.
Syahrin is now ranked 16th in the standings of MotoGP riders with 22 points. He has so far been the best debutant rider, over Franco Morbidelli, Takaaki Nakagami, Thomas Luthi and Xavier Simeon.