Malaysian young gun Hakim Danish delivered a resilient performance at MotorLand Aragón, to lock in a fifth-row start for Sunday’s Moto3 race.
Flying the flag for AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI aboard his KTM, Danish dug deep during Qualifying 2 (Q2) to slice off nearly two seconds from his morning pace, claiming 13th position on the starting grid.
Saturday morning’s Free Practice 2 (FP2) presented a challenging outing for Danish as the team focused on refining bike setup under dry conditions.
After setting a 1’59.489 in FP1, Danish managed to trim his effort to 1’58.922 on his fourth lap of FP2. However, as the rest of the field hit their stride, Danish finished the combined practice classification in 21st position, 1.663 seconds off the pace-setter David Almansa (1’57.259).
When the high-stakes 15-minute Q2 session got underway with ground temperatures hovering at 48°C, Danish showed impressive composure.
Building his momentum lap by lap, Danish unleashed a scorching personal weekend-best time of 1’57.052 on his sixth and final attempt. The lap rocketed him up to 13th overall, just 0.705 seconds adrift from David Almansa’s record-breaking pole time of 1’56.347.
Danish’s KTM was also running hot in the speed traps, registering a blistering 240.2 km/h top speed — matching the second-fastest mark recorded in the entire Q2 session.
Pole position went to David Almansa of the LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP, who delivered a stunning lap of 1:56.347 to lead the grid for Round 13.
With strong top-end speed and a proven ability to fight through the field, Danish will look to leverage his 5th-row starting position to push for a top-10 finish in Sunday’s race.
