The Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo did a great job in today’s Qualifying at the Phillip Island circuit. In very tricky conditions, Johann Zarco set the third quickest time of the strong field and will start tomorrow’s 17th round of the 2018 season at 16.00 local time (6.00 CET) from the front row of the grid.

Meanwhile, Hafizh Syahrin delivered an amazing performance as well. The Malaysian rookie competed in Q2 for the very first time today and did brave to conquer a stunning 10th position, which takes him to the front of the fourth row, after overcoming a crash in FP3 this morning.


Johann Zarco - Position: 3rd – Time: 1’29.705 – Laps: 8

“I’m pretty happy about the first row. Qualifying today has been difficult with some drops of rain. Even we knew the track was dry, you are scared about it, so I was happy that the lap time was coming good until the last lap, when I was just too afraid to push even more. Anyway, after this Qualifying I’m so delighted to be third, because it’s an advantage for tomorrow and it also shows that I have the potential to fight with the guys in front. The pace for the race is not bad, so I will try to do it. I hope for nice weather on Sunday afternoon to give me even more confidence and enable me to fight close to the top. I think, we can have reasonable hopes to be back on the podium.”

Hafizh Syahrin - Position: 10th – Time: 1’30.593 – Laps: 8

“This was a big day for me! I’m really happy, but at the same time I wasn’t too sure if I can make it to Qualifying and FP4, through I was very motivated and impatient to be on the bike. I try to get along with my pain in the fingers, the shoulder and the elbow. The result from FP4 was a huge surprise to me, because normally I’m quite cautious and slow coming back to track after a big crash. Maybe because I was really eager to prove myself, all this work payed off. Now I need to rest tonight because tomorrow we have a long race, so I try to recover as soon as possible, as my finger is quite in pain and I can’t bend it too much. Anyway, I’m really happy. Thank you very much to the team. We have a great feeling, although we had the big off this morning, but they keep me really motivated and I’m learning.”