John lines up 17th on Texas grid, optimistic for raceday

Changeable weather conditions accompanied day two of practice at round three in Texas. After first intermittent rain showers later this morning, Moto3 qualifying went underway in mixed conditions, so many teams and riders decided to start the session with rain tyres.

Also both sides in the garage of Peugeot Motocycles SAXOPRINT made this choice whilst the track was already almost dried out. For this reason, both John McPhee and teammate Alexis Masbou didn’t stay on track for many laps as they entered their pit for an early change to slick tyres and changing the setup for dry conditions.

After their pit stop, John and Alexis were able to put in several laps in for a time attack before a short rain shower interrupted the session too. For the remaining practice time, the Peugeout Motocycles SAXOPRINT squad had to wait and see how the condition will change again but without any consequences to their already achieved starting positions.

Starting time for the Moto3™ Grand Prix of The Americas is scheduled for Sunday 18:00 CET. John will be aiming high for the third race this year, particularly after the young Scotsman encouraging performance last Sunday in Argentina, where he scored the first points for the still young ambitious project.

#17 John McPHEE, Grid position 17th – 2´21.159 (4/5):
“Well, difficult conditions during this qualifying for us but this was the same for all. At the end I think we were a little bit too slow to change for slick tyres because for sure to head into the session straight with slick tyres was a great option to deal with but we managed to do two laps in the end, which wasn’t enough to make a better time like this. But finally we qualified even better than last time in Argentina, but then we finished seventh in the race last Sunday. So starting from the sixth row I hope we can do a good job tomorrow.”

Source: Peugeot MC SAXOPRINT