In just his third World Championship race, Khairul Idham Pawi charges to an unbelievable victory in the Argentina GP.
The Moto3™ World Championship race in Argentina was declared a wet race, the surface of the track somewhere in between wet and dry. All riders came to the grid on wet tyres, but some thought that slicks would be the best option. The Termas de Rio Hondo is a track with high grip levels, the situation reminiscent of the 2015 Indianapolis GP. It was tense on the grid as a number of riders weighed their potential options, all riders hiding their tyre choice until the final seconds.
Livio Loi (RW Racing GP BV) was the only rider to opt for wet tyres, the rest of the field, hoping the track would improve and that they could keep heat in their tyres, chose to run with slicks.
Starting from pole position for the first time in his career, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) made a solid start. But it was Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46) who shot into the lead, the only rider on the front row who started on a dry patch of tarmac. His lead would not last as Khairul Idham Pawi (Honda Team Asia) shot ahead and quickly opened up an advantage of over half a second by the middle of the first lap.
But with wets fitted, Loi was in hot pursuit out the front, able to push immediately. His plan was clear: sprint ahead while the track was wet and attempt to defend his lead if the track dried. Loi tagged onto the back of Pawi as the duo charged ahead, four seconds in front of the rest. Pawi’s performance was almost unbelievable given the fact he was on slick tyres, Loi unable to stay with the Malaysian’s demonic pace.
After an almost unbelievable race, Pawi would cross the line a staggering 26.170 ahead of Jorge Navarro. Navarro and Norrodin’s battle would go down to the penultimate corner, Norrodin high siding as he tried to do everything he could to end second. This promoted pole man Brad Binder to third, continuing his 100% podium record in 2016.
Pawi is the first Malaysian rider to take a Grand Prix victory, doing so in just his third race on the world stage.
