KUALA LUMPUR: Hakim Danish Ramli made up ground in Friday's Moto3 practice at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, but the Malaysian youngster remains some way off the pace ahead of Sunday's race.
The 19-year-old AEON Credit-MT Helmets-MSI rider clocked 1:37.774 in the afternoon session at Phillip Island, improving by 0.847 seconds from his morning time of 1:38.621.
However, the gain lifted him only to 25th in the combined standings, 2.482 seconds behind session leader Alvaro Carpe, who posted 1:35.292.
Hakim Danish also crashed during the afternoon session, making for a difficult opening day as he seeks to rediscover the form that brought him a third-place finish at Mugello and his maiden Grand Prix victory at Brno in June.
His results have tapered since the summer break, with last week's Indonesian Grand Prix bringing further frustration when a three-second penalty dropped him from 12th to 14th after a last-lap collision with GRYD Racing's Joel Kelso.
He will have another opportunity to close the gap in Saturday's sessions, with qualifying crucial to his chances of making progress in Sunday's race.
The Australian round is also the final stop before the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang from Oct 30 to Nov 1, where Hakim Danish will race in front of his home fans.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd