West scores in the wet at Sepang

Starting from 19th on the grid, West bolted early, passing ten riders on the first lap alone. By lap 3, the Aussie had the Speed Up QMMF bike up to fourth with a realistic chance of taking his maiden podium.

An exciting battle between Italian Alex de Angelis (FTR), Briton Gino Rea (Suter) and local hero Hafizh Syahrin (FTR) then unfolded, with all four riders battling the increasing heavy rain, and each other, as the race unfolded.

Two laps before the race was red flag due to the near-torrential rain, West left Rea and Syahrin behind to take second spot behind de Angelis. The result is West's best so far in Moto2, and the best Grand Prix result for the Qatar-based QMMF Racing Team.

"It's a long time since I had a result like this and I'm very happy about my comeback on a Grand Prix podium," West said after the race. "The last two years have been really difficult for me and at times, my confidence wasn't great. But in the last two races, I started to feel really good with the Speed Up bike. This race now is the next push for me to finish the season strong.

"The race was crazy. On the first laps, I seemed to pass lots of people quite easily. Finally, I caught up with Gino and Alex. They were setting a good pace and I was quite happy just to stay behind them. It was difficult, because sometimes they did really good laps and other times, they were sliding around, so I decided to sit there and watch.

"The conditions were changing constantly; sometimes you could brake hard and other times the track was too slick to do anything. Towards the end, the rain was out of control and I didn't think I was going to complete too many more laps. To see the red flags come out was a big relief!"

Image: motogp.com