Grid Penalty Doesn’t Break Hakim Danish’s Spirit at GP San Marino

Hakim Danish showed a spirited performance at the San Marino GP, thus adding four important points in the 2026 Moto3 World Championship.

Subscribe to our Instagram channel for the latest info and news!

National Moto3 rider, Hakim Danish, demonstrated his fighting spirit when he recovered from a difficult start to finish the San Marino Grand Prix (GP) race in 12th place at the Misano Circuit.

Starting from 25th place due to a grid penalty, the 19-year-old rider displayed consistent performance throughout the race when he successfully overtook 13 riders to collect four valuable points in the Moto3 World Championship.

Comeback Since The First Lap

It didn’t take long for Hakim to improve his position. As soon as the race started, he overtook three riders on the first lap to move up to 22nd place.

The momentum continued as he jumped to 20th, then 19th and 18th by the fourth round. Despite several position changes in the middle group, Hakim remained calm before improving to 16th in the seventh round.

In the eighth round, the Terengganu-born rider managed to enter the points group when he was in 15th place before continuing to compete closely with several other riders until the middle of the race.

Successfully Overtook 13 Racers

The competition became fiercer in the second half of the race as Hakim changed positions several times between 14th and 15th place.

He then increased his pace towards the end of the race, moving up to 13th place on laps 18 and 19 before crossing the finish line in 12th place.

The result saw Hakim improve his position by 13 places compared to the starting grid, thus taking home four additional points.

Hakim Danish Finds Confidence Again

Commenting on his performance after the race, Hakim admitted that he was still not satisfied with the results achieved, but was still happy to have managed to recover after starting from 25th place.

“I’m not too satisfied with today’s result. However, I’m still happy that I managed to recover after starting from the back of the grid and make my way back into the front group,” said Hakim.

He said the race in Misano helped him regain confidence with the machine after facing a challenging weekend.

“I feel that this race helped me regain my confidence and get back in sync with the bike,” he added.

Hakim now turns his focus to the Austrian Grand Prix, with the aim of improving on the weaknesses identified in Misano and continuing the positive momentum shown.

“I want to continue building this momentum and make an even stronger comeback,” he said.

Zulfahmi: Danish’s pace is on par with the top six

SIC Racing Team Manager, Zulfahmi Khairuddin, described the weekend in Misano as a challenge for Hakim and the team after several training sessions were affected by weather and technical problems.

According to him, the penalty received by Hakim in the Q1 session was due to a slipstream situation, something that often happens in Moto3 races.

“This is part of the challenge in Moto3 that we always have to remind the Danish, particularly when riders are looking to gain an advantage from the slipstream,” explained Zulfahmi.

Despite this, he praised the resilience displayed by the country’s young riders throughout the race.

“He started from 25th on the grid and fought his way back to finish 12th,” he said.

Zulfahmi believes Hakim’s actual performance was better than the results recorded in Misano.

“I believe the pace Danish showed in yesterday’s race was actually on par with the riders in the top six,” he added.

Overall Position is Getting Stronger

After the round in Misano, Hakim now has 94 points and is eighth overall in the Moto3 World Championship standings.

With eight rounds remaining in the season, the opportunity to continue improving the overall standings and the competition among rookie riders is still wide open.

For the ZK Racing team, the result in San Marino provides a boost of confidence ahead of the rest of the season, with the focus now on maintaining consistency and closing the points gap with the challengers ahead.