Red Bull KTM Ajo rider arrives in Malaysia having cut 5 points off the gap to Moto3 series leader. Karel Hanika wants to complete flyaway tour with another positive result.

Sepang will host the final race of the Moto3 World Championship’s flyaway trio of events this weekend. With the title still up for grabs, Jack Miller –second in the overall standings– will try to further cut the gap to the series leader in the penultimate race of the season. His teammate, Karel Hanika, will debut at the Malaysian circuit and will have to adapt to the high temperatures and high humidity typical of the track.

For Jack Miller this will be the fourth time he has contested a Malaysian Grand Prix in lower cylinder class. After taking a fifth victory of the season at his home circuit of Phillip Island, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider wants to keep up his good feeling with his bike and claim another win to shake up the standings. Miller is currently second overall with 231 points, 20 off the lead.

Karel Hanika will have to turn to videogames again in order to learn the Sepang track. The Czech rider is making his first visit to Malaysia. After passing challenges in Japan and Australia with flying colours, Hanika wants a good weekend with a Top 10 finish at the end of it, to add further points to his tally. The Moto3 rookie is 18th in the overall standings, with 31 points.

Free Practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix takes place at 9am local time on Friday. The qualifying session is scheduled for Saturday at 12:35pm local time, with Sunday’s race at 1pm.

Circuit information – Sepang International Circuit
Length: 5.543m / 3.444 miles
Width: 25m
Left corners: 5
Right corners: 10
Longest straight: 920m / 0.572 miles
Constructed: 1998

Jack Miller

“I’m eager to start the Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit, especially after the victory at home in Australia last week. It is, alongside Phillip Island, one of my favourite tracks. I really like the layout and I think the characteristics are well suited to the KTM and my riding style. It is true that there are two long straights on this circuit, so during training we will also work on this, but I don’t think the race will be decided on a slipstream. As we saw over the past two years, the winner was decided at the last corner. Anyway, we will look at all options. I really want to start riding at this track and go up against the high temperatures of Malaysia.”

Karel Hanika

“We’ll see what happens this weekend. This is the third consecutive week, after Japan and Australia, that I have to learn a completely new circuit for me, but so far things haven’t gone badly for us. It was important to get points from both races, so I hope to continue in the same way this weekend. Friday will be devoted to learning the track and I think it will not be a big problem, because the last two weeks we have done so really quickly. I’m sure here it will be a little different because the weather will make it very hard. Anyway, I think I will like it because it looks nice and has all kinds of corners. I hope to enjoy this Grand Prix and get a good result.”