Orelac Racing VerdNatura rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin improved on his top ten on Friday by qualifying in the middle of the second row for his home race at Sepang International Circuit. Fahmi is a WorldSSP rookie and is moving forward in the class, buoyed by Malay support and the added incentive of racing at home. He has previously been on the podium at his home track, in 2012 in the Moto3 World Championship; a race he started from pole.

“Today we did a really good job with the team and I did a good lap in the qualifying session,” said Fahmi “On the last lap I was even faster but it wasn’t enough to get on the front row. But in general, I’m happy with the performance of the team and I’m really looking forward to the Race tomorrow. I think tyre management will be important tomorrow and I´m pretty confident with my pace today so we’ll see tomorrow what will happen…”

Sepang International Circuit has recently been resurfaced and is reported as more abrasive; with tyre wear remaining more of an unknown.

“I’m really happy with the setup of the bike for qualifying but we need to look into more details in the data for tomorrow to see what we can improve, especially with the fuel tank. And I think I´m struggling a little with the used tyre, but we’ll find out tomorrow in the Warm Up what we can do to improve our Race.”

The lights go out for the WorldSSP Race at 14:20 local time (GMT +8) on Sunday, as the campaign #SupportFahmi63 sees their rider go for home glory.