SIC boss hopes homegrown Hakim can boost Malaysian GP turnout
KUALA LUMPUR: Azhan Shafriman Hanif is hoping Hakim Danish Ramli's presence in the Moto3 World Motorcycle Championships - either as a wildcard this year or a full-season rider next season - will help boost ticket sales at the circuit.
The Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer last week confirmed that Hakim, 17, essentially has a seat waiting for him at Frinsa-MT Helmets-MSI for the 2026 season but must hit certain key performance indicators in the Junior GP and Red Bull Rookies series this year to secure it.
He said that Hakim could also be given a wildcard to race in Moto3 this season at the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia on Oct 24-26.
"The goal has always been to put a Malaysian rider back in the world championships as a full-season rider," said Shafriman recently.
"Our plan is to get Hakim to race on a wildcard in the Malaysian GP this year but this will depend on his performances this season as well as the funding that is available.
"This (wildcard) is to allow us to evaluate his performances when racing against the current Moto3 riders.
"We also hope his inclusion in Moto3 will encourage more Malaysians to come out and support him at the Sepang.
"We have seen other Asian countries placing their riders in world championships (and boosting race attendances at their home GPs). Hopefully we can do the same here.
"We targeted 200,000 fans (over three days) at the Malaysian GP last year but we got 185,000. Hopefully we can achieve that goal this season."
The Malaysian GP attracted record crowds over three days for the past two years with 182,912 turning up for the event in 2023 and 184,923 last year.
Hakim became the first Malaysian rider to win the Asian Talent Cup title in 2022 and has been dubbed as an "outstanding talent" by former Moto3 rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin.
Zulfahmi, via his company ZK Racing, has been overseeing Hakim's development since the latter won the inaugural SIC MiniGP championships in 2020.
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