Malaysia’s young racer, Hakim Danish Ramli was once again on the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup podium, this time at the French Grand Prix. It was his second podium finish in the 2024 season, after scoring a second-place finish in Spain, previously.
The 16-year-old had led much of Race 2 after a good start. He had also changed his riding style, which allowed him to match the front runners.
“This time I changed my riding, I had my body further forward and pushed my elbow down, I was scraping it through the corners and tried to open the throttle earlier in the corners and it worked very well.”
However, he was overtaken by the eventual winner Brian Uriarte and second place finisher Màximo Quiles just moments to the end of the race. Quiles, the winner of the Race 1 a day earlier was leading when Uriarte lunged inside at the final turn, surprising Quiles and caused him to slide his front tyre. Quiles managed to save it and finished just ahead of Hakim.
“In the last lap I tried to lead but two people overtook me, That’s OK I tried to overtake again. Into the last corner, I almost wanted to try a pass on Maximo and Brian but I was just too far away. I already overtook another rider the turn before and that cost me a little bit, I couldn’t go for the win at the last corner,” continued Hakim who finished 3rd.
Hakim had finished in 6th in Race 1 on Saturday, and admitted that he could not match the front runners’ pace. Still, it was a positive result overall as he had targeted a podium finish in this round.
