San Marino GP: Hakim Danish Starts on 6th row at Misano
Hakim Danish's Saturday at the Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera was a session-by-session swing between promise and frustration.
The AEON Credit - MT Helmets - MSI rider climbed out of a difficult wet morning to produce one of the standout laps of Qualifying 1, only to see that momentum stall once the pressure of Qualifying 2 arrived. He will start Sunday's Moto3 race from 18th on the grid.
Free Practice 2 in the morning session was run in miserable conditions, and Danish spent much of the hour-long session working his way toward the pace. His times fell steadily from a 2'02.884 on his second lap down to a best of 1'55.345, set on his eleventh and final timed lap of the session.
That left him 17th on the combined sheet, 3.083 seconds off pace-setter Brian Uriarte, but only three-tenths shy of 16th place — a sign the lap time was still coming down as the session ended.
The track transformed for the afternoon, drying out under 26°C air and warming to 35°C on the surface. Danish responded with real authority in Qualifying 1, needing two runs to find it but delivering his best lap — a 1'41.816 — on the very last timed lap of the session.
It was good enough for third in the twelve-rider group, just 0.181 seconds behind AEON Credit teammate Ryusei Yamanaka in second, and 0.297 seconds off session-topper Alvaro Carpe. That result carried him through to Qualifying 2 alongside Carpe, Yamanaka, and Jesus Rios — the four fastest names from the Q1 group.
Qualifying 2 told a different story. Across two runs and five laps, Danish couldn't recreate his Q1 form, eventually setting a best of 1'42.407 on his final lap — actually half a second slower than the time that had gotten him into the session in the first place.
With the rest of the eighteen-rider field finding improvement in the drying, rubbered-in conditions, that lap left him at the bottom of the group, 1.795 seconds off pole-sitter David Almansa's 1'40.612.
The net result is a starting position of 18th — a real step back from where his Q1 pace suggested he might land, but still a spot ahead of the eight riders who fell short of the Q2 cutoff altogether. For a rider who looked like a genuine front-row threat for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon, it's a result that will sting more than a straightforward middling qualifying might have.
Credit Photo : ZK Racing
