Hakim Danish: Moto3 rookie from Malaysia is giving the strong Spanish riders a run for their money

At just 18 years of age, Hakim Danish is one of the most striking newcomers in the current Moto3 line-up. His rise has been meteoric – from the Asia Talent Cup to the Motorcycle World Championship in just a few years. The third-placed rider in the 2025 Red Bull Rookies Cup took a different path to other Asian riders, who took considerably longer to reach this level.

In an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com writer Manuel Pecino, the Malaysian speaks calmly about his rapid development, the crucial support from his home country and his life in Spain.

Hakim, your career has progressed at breakneck speed. You started out in the Asia Talent Cup in 2021 and now, just a few years later, you’re already competing in the Moto3 World Championship. When you look back on your own career, are you surprised at how quickly it’s all happened? Yes , to be honest, I am. When I look back, I realise that it’s all happened very quickly, so I feel very lucky to have been given this opportunity.

How did it all start? Is there a motorcycling tradition in your family? Not at a professional level. Nobody in my family was a racing rider, but everyone really loved motorbikes. It was my dad who took me to a racetrack for the first time when I was still very young, and who taught me how to ride.

I started out on minibikes and raced until I was 13. Then I made the leap to the MiniGP class and was lucky enough that Zulfahmi Khairuddin took a chance on me when he launched the MiniGP Championship in Malaysia. I won several races there and subsequently joined his academy, which was the starting point for everything that followed.

That’s when your international career began. Exactly . First came the MiniGP in Malaysia, then the Asia Talent Cup, and since then I’ve been travelling all over the world to take part in races.

Competing at this level involves considerable costs. Who has funded your career? I’ve been very lucky, because ever since I joined the Asia Talent Cup, the Malaysian government has supported me financially – that was crucial in enabling me to progress further.

I’m also very grateful to Zulfahmi Khairuddin, as he’s done an incredible amount for my career. Without his help, it would have been much harder to get this far.

When a country invests in an athlete, the responsibility also increases. Do you feel that pressure? Yes, that responsibility is there, but when I get on the motorbike, I try to forget everything. On the track, you have to be fully focused and give 100 per cent. If you start thinking about the pressure or the expectations, you lose your focus.

During the season, you live in Spain. What’s your daily routine like? I have a house in Tarragona, which my team rents, and that’s where I spend most of the year. I share the house with my mechanic, who’s also from Malaysia. He’s like a second father to me. He helps me with everything: training, physical preparation and organising my daily life. Having someone you trust makes everything much easier when you’re so far from home.

You’ve improved significantly this season. At the start, it was hard to compete at the very front, and now you’re fighting for the podium. What’s changed? Above all, my self-confidence. From race to race, I feel more at ease on the bike and understand much better how this championship works. The Moto3 World Championship is very different from anything I’ve experienced before. The standard is extremely high and every little detail makes a difference. The more races you compete in, the more you learn and the more confidence you have to push right to the limit.

I also have a brilliant coach and a training partner like Valentino Perrone. Working with him every day really helps me to develop further.

You get the impression that riders trained in Spain are very well prepared for riding in groups and battling wheel-to-wheel. Yes, absolutely. Here, riders start competing at a very high level from a very young age and quickly learn to battle it out in large groups. As a result, by the time they reach the World Championship, they already have a lot of experience with this type of race. I’m also just getting to grips with this aspect myself. With every race, I understand a little better how to handle such situations.

In the second part of the interview, Hakim Danish talks about his expectations for this season and what it takes to become world champion.

To be continued …