Phillip Island, the home to Little Penguins, Short-tailed Shearwaters and Pacific Gulls was where Malaysian Moto3 rider, Muhammad Zulfahmi Khairuddin, found his jinx at the famous 23-lap Australian Grand Prix circuit.
The 21-year old Zulfahmi began his charge from 5th place when the lights turned green and managed to lead the pack with the Sandro Cortese, Jonas Folger and Efren Vasques trailing closely behind him.
Zulfahmi had arrived at the Phillip Island circuit with much promise after having finished on the podium in second on home ground (Sepang International Circuit) for Team AirAsia SIC Ajo.
On Lap 7, the main frontrunners who was led by Cortese, managed to find their way past Zulfahmi who seemed to be having technical difficulties with his bike as it seemed to be gradually losing pace. By mid-way, he found himself in 10th place.
However, on lap 15, Zulfahmi was bumped up to 9th place on lap 15 after Maverick Vinales crashed out of the race. It was clear that Zulfahmi was still struggling, trying to nurse his bike till the end, only whatever that was ailing his bike became terminal, robbing him and the team of any points with just 4 more laps to go.
In his comments, SIC Chief Executive Officer Datuk Razlan Razali said that Zulfahmi needed to immediate put aside today’s disappointment and focus on the next race and the final round in Valencia, which is due in two weeks.
“Clearly, Fahmi had engine issues. He started well and was not able to maintain the speed and acceleration, due to problems with his bike. He was obviously struggling for power mid-way through the race and this is indeed a disappointment for us all.
“Again, it is a luckless weekend for Fahmi in Australia. However, we need to draw all the positives from this weekend’s race and immediately focus on the race in Valencia. It will be a very important race for Fahmi to defend his current overall position,” Razlan added.
In Zulfahmi’s (112 points) disappointing attempt at trying to haul in more championship points over the weekend, he has effectively dropped a place in the championship standings to 8th, with Oliveira at 114 points – thanks to the Portuguese’s 2nd place finish.
There’s only one more round to go at Valencia, and only 25 points left up for grabs, Zulfahmi now holds a 19-point advantage over ninth-placed Folger and Vasquez, who are both tied with 93 points.
Following Cortese’s ‘Jack-Pot’ Phillip Island win of 25 points, he’s now cemented his place into the top-spot of the championship standings with a whopping 305 points leaving Spaniards Salom and Vinales to tango for 2nd place in the championship with 208 and 199 points respectively, come race day in Valencia.
Australian Arthur Siss, managed to finish in 3rd on home ground, much to the delight of his home team and now climbs to 11th in the overall standings with 84 points.
