There’s finally a Malaysian MotoGP team!
It’s finally happened. There’s now a full-fledged Malaysian team racing in the premier MotoGP class, and they’ve celebrated their entry in style this week with a swanky launch event held in Kuala Lumpur at its title sponsor’s home base of KLCC.
Say hello to the newly formed Petronas SIC Racing Team, or Petronas SRT for short. The latest expansion of the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) two-wheeled racing program sees the circuit making inroads towards the premier MotoGP class grid – efforts spearheaded over the last few years by its CEO, Datuk Razlan Razali.
Up to this point, the circuit has been running both a Moto3 and Moto2 team simultaneously, also with the backing of local petroleum giant Petronas through its Petronas Sprinta motorcycle lubricants brand.
The new MotoGP effort differs strongly not just in terms of its competition class, it also debuts as the new satellite Yamaha outfit, with the team running satellite-spec (read 2018-spec) Yamaha YZR-M1 machines – the very machines ran by the factory Yamaha team and its riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales prior.
Tasked with riding one of these machines now is 24-year-old Italian rider and 2017 Moto2 champion Franco Morbidelli. Having scored the title of MotoGP’s 2018 Rookie of The Year with the Honda-powered Marc VDS team prior, the Italian is looking to chart higher results this year with the Yamaha-powered Malaysian team.
Joining Franco in the Petronas SRT garage is MotoGP debutant Fabio Quartararo. Many in the MotoGP paddock have tipped the 19-year-old Frenchman as ‘the next big thing’, and he enters his maiden MotoGP season as the class’s youngest rider to compete on the 2019 grid.
“Petronas and SIC are doing a great thing too, so I’m very pleased. I hope we can get good results and make Petronas people happy,” said Franco to MotoGP.com about signing up with the Malaysian outfit.
His teammate, Quartararo, on the other hand, said, “I feel good. For sure I’m the youngest but I don’t need to think about age. We need to think about the results of the bike and make good results.”
Undoubtedly, all eyes will be on the newest team on the block as MotoGP heads into its usual rounds of pre-season tests, the most immediate being the one in the team’s home ground at the Sepang International Circuit from Feb 6 to Feb 8.
The new premier class outfit aside, SIC’s existing Moto2 and Moto3 programs also resumes in 2019. In Moto3, the Honda-powered Petronas Sprinta Racing team sees Japanese rider Ayumu Sasaki retained for another season, but he’s now joined alongside by new teammate John McPhee, the latter Scotsman replacing Adam Norrodin for 2019.
Also retained is Khairul Idham Pawi. This being his third season in the Moto2 class, the 20-year-old wunderkid from Perak will get another shot to prove his mettle as Datuk Razlan has promised him a seat in SIC’s new MotoGP team if he does.
Simply put, there couldn’t be a better time for Malaysian two-wheeled racing fans indeed now that there’s a local outfit in the premier class. Here’s to hoping we see another Malaysian besides Hafizh Syahrin on the premier class’s grid soon enough…
Pictures: SIC
