Tech3 proudly announces contract extension with Hafizh Syahrin for one more year

The French squad is delighted to declare that Hafizh Syahrin will open a new chapter together with Tech3 in 2019. Following his late call to MotoGP this year, the Malaysian youngster delivered an outstanding rookie performance, collecting points from his first ever race in the premier class and showing an extraordinary learning curve. Yet, the 24-year old very talented rider and Tech3 are happy to continue their collaboration with high motivation and ambitious objectives.

Hafizh SYAHRIN

“It’s hard for me to say and to believe. First of all, I have to say thank you very much to Hervé for trusting in me and giving me this opportunity to stay with the Tech3 family and at the same time to join the KTM family. I also have to express a huge thank you to my manager Dato' Razlan, who helped me to achieve this dream arriving in the MotoGP class, plus thank you to KTM for believing in Hervé and in me. I will work hard for 2019 and I’ll be better prepared, as this is not as surprising as this season. I’m incredibly happy to get this chance, I even feel close to cry for joy. Thanks to everybody and especially to Hervé and Dato' Razlan for always believing in me.”

Dato’ Razlan RAZALI

SIC Chief Executive Officer

“I’m extremely excited for Hafizh to get this opportunity to ride in MotoGP category for a second year. I must really thank Hervé for the faith that he has in this boy. Hafizh Syahrin’s journey to MotoGP is a fairytale story, it’s something that should be idolized by young Malaysians. When you work hard, when you are patient and focused, you can achieve your dream and that’s exactly what Hafizh is doing. He has attracted a lot of attention, especially from Hervé for this year and his continued faith in him together with KTM, so we appreciate this support from the team very much. As a Malaysian, as a fan, we are incredibly excited, finally, Hafizh will get to ride a factory bike, he’s a factory rider and how often can we say that we have a Malaysian who has a factory ride in MotoGP, so we are very happy and of course we look forward for him to come to Sepang and wearing the new Tech3 KTM colours in 2019.”

Hervé PONCHARAL

Team Manager

“Today is a very special day for me and for the whole Tech3 team! Since Hafizh jumped on our MotoGP bike, it’s been like a dream, every single day, because he’s been very fast and a lot faster than some people were thinking and we’ve been very proud of what he did. I know it was a great achievement for a Malaysian rider to be the first one of his country arriving in the MotoGP class, for his first ever MotoGP race, he scored points and since that day he has been consistently battling for the top rookie spot and apart from that, Hafizh is a very special character. He is a very nice young man, very well educated, very humble, very respectful of everything, hard-working, wanting and wishing to learn a lot, which is what he is doing and a very funny guy, too, a fact I like a lot. Everybody who knows Tech3 a little bit, is aware that I always consider my team my family, I always try to have this family atmosphere in the garage. Hafizh fits in very well and he makes everybody laugh. From almost day one we started to work with him, I wanted to give Hafizh a second year, because year one is important to learn, but the second year is maybe even more important to prove yourself. Clearly, for us all to move to our new project with KTM, where we have the insurance that the four KTM on the grid in 2019 will be the same evolution, it’s going to be a massive boost for Hafizh. He will be on the same machine like Miguel Oliveira, Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro and this is a great challenge. I’m very proud to take this challenge together with Hafizh, always with the support of Razlan. I think we got the best rider, we could have picked for our 2019 line-up and I’m quite sure that Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin will be a strong package of new talented and ambitious riders. Tonight, we are a happy team, because everything is clear and decided, so welcome for another year, Hafizh!”

-Monster Yamaha Tech3.