Hafizh began racing pocket bikes at the age of nine and quickly earned the nickname "King of Pocket Bikes." At thirteen, in 2007, he made his debut in the Malaysian Cub Prix championship, finishing his first year second overall in the Yamaha LC135 Cup class. He joined Petronas Sprinta Raceline and continued building his reputation through 2009, winning seven of eight rounds in the Novice category before stepping up to compete against senior riders. He became the youngest-ever CP130 champion in the expert category in 2010, breaking the record previously held by Norizman Ismail.
Hafizh moved into the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) Supersport 600cc in 2010, finishing 12th from 39 riders in his debut season and improving to fourth in 2011. He competed in the Spanish Moto2 series in 2012, finishing sixth.
Hafizh's first significant international moment came at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix, where as a wildcard he led during the middle stages and finished what appeared to be fourth. The result was retroactively promoted to a third-place podium in November 2013 after Anthony West's results were annulled due to a doping violation.
He joined Moto2 full-time in 2014 with Petronas Raceline Malaysia, riding a Kalex and finishing 19th in the standings with 42 points. He improved steadily in 2015 (64 points, 16th overall) and made a major step forward in 2016, scoring 118 points and finishing ninth in the championship, with four fourth-place finishes at Qatar, Catalunya, and Britain.
In 2017, Hafizh strengthened further. He scored a podium at the San Marino Grand Prix that was later elevated to second after Dominique Aegerter's disqualification, and followed it with a third place at the Japanese Grand Prix in wet conditions. He ended the season tenth overall with 106 points.
When Jonas Folger withdrew from the 2018 season due to Gilbert's syndrome, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team principal Hervé Poncharal, in consultation with SIC Petronas CEO Razlan Razali and Yamaha Asia, chose Hafizh as the replacement. After an impressive pre-season showing at Buriram, he was confirmed for the full season.
Hafizh performed creditably in his MotoGP debut season. His best result came at the Argentine Grand Prix, where he finished ninth after starting from 23rd. He challenged Moto2 graduate Franco Morbidelli for Rookie of the Year honours, ultimately losing by only four points. He ended the season 16th in the standings with 46 points. Tech 3 retained him for 2019, now transitioning to KTM machinery.
Riding a factory-spec KTM RC16 alongside rookie Miguel Oliveira, Hafizh struggled to extract performance from the unfamiliar machine. He finished in the points only six times and scored nine points total. Tech 3 did not renew his contract, and he was replaced by Iker Lecuona for 2020.
Hafizh returned to Moto2 with the Aspar Team in 2020, scoring 21 points. He moved to NTS RW Racing GP in 2021, finishing with nine points across three scoring races. He then transitioned to the Superbike World Championship with MIE Racing Honda Team in 2022 and 2023, and made additional appearances for JDT Racing Team on Ducati machinery in 2024.
Hafizh Syahrin's historic status as the first Southeast Asian MotoGP full-season entrant established him as a trailblazer for the region's motorcycle racing talent. His career arc — from Malaysian pocket bike champion to Grand Prix podium contender to MotoGP's Southeast Asian pioneer — demonstrated both the depth of homegrown Malaysian talent and the competitive pathway that regional development programs could offer.