Malaysian Moto3 contender Hakim Danish wrapped up an action-packed opening Friday at the Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera 2026, placing 16th in the afternoon Practice session and booking his spot in Saturday’s Qualifying 1 (Q1) battle.
Riding for AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI, the Terengganu-born rider showed early promise by storming into the top 10 during Free Practice 1 before drastically trimming his lap times in the afternoon.
Danish set a solid baseline during Friday morning’s FP1 session under cooler conditions, completing 7 laps and posting a fastest time of 1’49.061 to lock in 9th overall.
As track temperatures rose in the afternoon, Danish sliced a massive 7.125 seconds off his FP1 benchmark, clocking his personal best of 1’41.936 on his 4th lap out of 14.
Despite the big leap in speed, an intensely tight Moto3 field saw Danish finish 16th, just missing out on the automatic top-14 Q2 direct entry cutoff. Consequently, Danish will commence Saturday’s Qualifying in the Q1 group, battling for one of the top four progression spots into Q2.
With only the top 14 riders directly securing Q2 spots, Danish has everything to play for in Saturday morning’s Q1 session. His early lap speed during the afternoon Practice proves the Malaysian rookie has the pace to challenge for a top-four spot in Q1 and push into the main grid shootout.
Credit Photo : ZK Racing
