John McPhee fights back from 25th to 10th at Jerez

John McPhee staged a great fightback today, having started his Spanish GP at the iconic Jerez circuit from a lowly 25th on the grid.

This was the result of a woeful Qualifying session where John was beset by transmission problems; “There was nothing I could do” he said about it, “I pushed to the maximum every lap, but at the end we had the same problems again with the gearbox”.

Race morning’s Warm-Up session saw John in a much improved state, coming 12th – the day starting much cooler and cloudier than Friday and Saturday’s scorching conditions.

John was quick off the grid, up to 22nd by the first corner, and moving into 19th on lap 2.

With 18 laps to go John was in 14th place – and in the points, in a large midfield pack, chasing the leading pack of Kent, Quartararo, Oliveira and Binder.

John continued to trade places in this group over the following laps and with 12 to go, took 12th position from teammate Masbou – and soon after that taking 11th from Isaac Viñales.

A tangle between Ono and Kornfeil allowed John to move into 9th with 8 laps to go as he continued battling with Viñales.

John finally crossed the line in 10th place – the podium places going to Danny Kent in 1st, Miguel Oliveira in 2nd and Brad Binder in 3rd.

Given such a problematic Qualifying and its resulting poor grid position, the race saw John on great form and making a strong comeback as he fought his way through the field.