Malaysia's Adam Norrodin turns heads with a strong Moto3 qualifying performance as Khairul Struggles in the Grand Prix of the Americas

Moto3: Adam continues form as Khairul struggles in Austin

BY LIM TEIK HUATTHE STAR

Adam Norrodin in action during at the Circuit if the Americas in Austin, Texas.

PETALING JAYA: Rookie rider Adam Norrodin has continued to turn heads with a strong Moto3 qualifying performance in the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

In just his third World Championship race and his first on American soil, the 17-year-old will start sixth for Drive M7 SIC Racing Team – his best qualifying performance to date. 

This comes just a week after the Malaysian produced a spirited ride at the Grand Prix of Argentina, where he was challenging for the podium before falling at the final corner. He got up and pushed his bike across the finish line for 11th spot.

In the Texas qualifying, Adam posted 2:19.469 to share second row with team-mate Jakub Kornfeil. The Czech rider was fourth quickest in the tricky wet conditions with 2:19.068.

“Today’s qualifying was hard but it went really well. The weather kept changing, so track conditions were quite difficult. At the start, it was wet and then it dried up really quick,” said the 17-year-old Adam, who already has five world championship points.

“We came straight in to change to slicks and then just kept going. I concentrated on trying to push hard because we did not know what would happen next.

“Starting from the second row is great. I will push from the beginning to do a good job and I will take as much as I can for the mistake I made at the last race in Argentina.”

While Adam sizzled, fellow Malaysian Khairul Idham Pawi struggled to adapt to the track conditions.

The Honda Team Asia rider, who stunned the grid when he won in Argentina last week, will start at the back of the grid after placing 32nd fastest in 2:24.640.

“It was a very difficult qualifying for me. With this complicated conditions, I was not able to improve my lap time,” said Khairul, also 17.

Petronas Raceline rider Hafizh Syahrin also did not have a good day. Hafizh clocked the 17th fastest time of 2:10.292 in the Moto2 qualifying session.

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Philipp Oettl	Schedl GP Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	2:18.398
2	Jorge Navarro	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	2:18.985
3	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	2:18.996
4	Jakub Kornfeil	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	2:19.068
5	Romano Fenati	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	2:19.135
6	Adam Norrodin	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	2:19.469
7	Andrea Locatelli	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	2:19.708
8	Jules Danilo	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	2:19.790
9	Fabio Quartararo	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	2:20.118
10	Livio Loi	RW Racing GP BV	Honda NSF250RW	2:20.230
11	Nicolo Bulega	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	2:20.444
12	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	2:20.456
13	Tatsuki Suzuki	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	2:20.499
14	Juan Francisco Guevara	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	2:20.649
15	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	2:20.773
16	Hiroki Ono	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	2:21.151
17	John McPhee	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	2:21.159
18	Francesco Bagnaia	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	2:21.309
19	Karel Hanika	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	2:21.379
20	Jorge Martin	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	2:21.486
21	Andrea Migno	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	2:21.957
22	Aron Canet	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	2:22.232
23	Bo Bendsneyder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	2:22.251
24	Gabriel Rodrigo	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	2:22.687
25	Lorenzo Petrarca	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	2:22.794
26	Darryn Binder	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	2:23.097
27	Maria Herrera	Team Laglisse	KTM RC 250 GP	2:23.461
28	Stefano Valtulini	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	2:23.495
29	Joan Mir	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	2:23.578
30	Niccolo Antonelli	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	2:24.379
31	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	2:24.477
32	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	2:24.640
33	Fabio Spiranelli	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	2:31.357