Current Red Bull Tech 3 KTM rider Hafizh Syahrin will return to the Moto2 class in 2020 as the Malaysian is set to partner up with current Moto3 Championship contender Aron Canet in the Angel Nieto Team.
It was expected that Syahrin could move down with his current Tech 3 team, however, team manager Herve Poncheral quashed the rumours when he announced that his French team would switch to a Moto3 title attack, fielding Ayumu Sasaki.
Syahrin stepped up to the MotoGP class in 2018, replacing Jonas Folger who was ruled out with Gilbert Syndrome, after four full seasons in Moto2. Syhrain’s MotoGP debut season saw the 25-year-old finish sixteenth in the overall standings with three top-ten finishes towards the end of the season.
In the Moto2 class, Syahrin has yet to win a race but has stood on the podium three times, his first at a wet Sepang Circuit in 2012 where he stunned the Moto2 field as a wildcard. Since then, Syahrin’s finished in the top-ten in the overall standings twice in 2016 and 2017.
Speaking to the team about his return to the Moto2 class, Syahrin said: “I think that together with the Angel Nieto Team we can do a good job next season,”
“I have raced against the majority of riders in this class and I think I can mix it up at the front. I will give my best to be a top-five rider, I have faith in the team because I have worked with a few of them before, and I think we can do a good job.”
Team manager Jorge Martinez “Aspar” added: “I want to welcome Hafizh Syahrin to the team, it is great news to have a pilot of his experience in our new challenge in the Moto2 category. In 2020 we will make a leap forward, we have raised the bar, and I know that both Hafizh and his future partner Aron Canet will help us to fulfil them.”
The Angel Nieto team currently fields Jake Dixon and Xavi Cardelus, but will both part ways with the Spanish team to make way for Canet and Syahrin.
