John McPhee takes 15th on Austin grid despite qualifying crash

Certainly, SAXOPRINT RTG rider John McPhee had hoped for better than Qualifying actually delivered at the Circuit of the Americas. Only the fifth row in the grid was eventually possible for the young Scot after a second troubled day at the track.

John stayed in 23rd place in FP3 – a slot that was far below his expectations. In qualifying he was riding near the beginning near Livio Loi on a very slow track, and fell as a result of a tangle with the other rider.

Following the crash of Hiroki Ono qualifying had to be interrupted. It was fortunate for John, because thus had his crew time to build his bike again. Even team manager, Dirk Heidolf, helped with the job. With 15th place on the grid for tomorrow he can hopefully move forwards and pick up valuable points.

John McPhee
“Qualifying started difficult: because of the collision with another rider. So we lost some time and had some stress in the beginning. When I went back out the bike felt ok. Overall I improved the feeling for the bike. For tomorrow we will do some more chanches and try something in the warm up. The position on the grid is far away from were we want to be. But the race is tomorrow. We will see what we can do and hope to get some points.”

Source: SAXOPRINT RTG
Photo: © RACEPIXS.DE