John uses CEV Repsol Barcelona weekend to test new gearbox
It was a busy weekend for Peugeot MC SAXOPRINT rider John McPhee as he tested and evaluated the all-new gearbox brought by the Mahindra engineers for the very first on-track trial last weekend in Barcelona.
It was just a short decision to take part in last weekend’s Barcelona round for the Moto3™ World Junior World Championship in which the next generation of Grand Prix riders is educated, but it was also a welcome opportunity for Peugeot Motocycles SAXOPRINT and Mahindra to test at the same venue as the Catalan Grand Prix the weekend before because of many references available.
For this test appearance, which was more than a normal race weekend for the French/German based Moto3 outfit, it was decided that John would race the updated Peugeot Moto3 machine. Hot temperatures, particularly in the afternoon and the duration of four days riding the bike starting on Thursday till Sunday including two races in one day made it a tough task for the well-trained McPhee.
But the findings are even more positive as in particular the development gearbox has proven faultless over the course of four days racing at the demanding Barcelona circuit. Beyond that, John and his experienced crew chief in Peugeot Motocycles SAXOPRINT, Mark Keen, were also able to try and test some other new parts and settings to conclude the extended Barcelona stay moving forward with the team’s packages overall.
Before the TT Assen World Championship race at its traditional date end of June, John is taking a well-earned short break now before the entire team is set to travel to the northern part of the Netherlands next week.
#17 John McPHEE – 11th/9th:
“These last four days has been very positive for us. We came here with the main focus to test some new parts, especially to make some kilometres on the developed gearbox. Overall, I’m really happy with this new gearbox because it was working good or better said, it worked faultless throughout the weekend which of course is the most important thing. For the lap time is doesn’t make so much difference but for a consistent lap it’s much better so it’s easier to ride consistently without making any mistakes in terms of riding due to gearing issues now. Beyond that we used the track time wisely to try and test some parts which is not possible during a Grand Prix weekend. In doing so, sometimes we made a step forward but also sometimes a step back, but the most important thing was to understand what the changes made to the bike. In the end our initial plan was not to race on Sunday but yesterday morning we thought it was good to try the gearbox in race conditions too and despite of that it was more track time for me. So this was the main focus as we gained to make kilometres at all. Overall, I was seven tenths faster than I was in the Grand Prix weekend here so I think, it was a positive test and we moved forward overall.”
Mark KEEN (Crew chief):
“It was a very positive weekend for John and our Peugeot bike. We had the new prototype gearbox to test here in Barcelona and this has been working faultless throughout the whole weekend, which of course is a big step for us. Unfortunately, it’s not a big step forward lap time wise but it’s much, much nicer for the riders to ride with because now there are no more miss gearing or other issues in this respect. So this of course is excellent. During this long weekend with four days on track we had some other settings that we tried and tested too. I think, John was pretty happy overall because Saturday we lapped 0.7 seconds faster than our best from the Grand Prix the weekend before, particularly in conditions that were not quite as good with wind and very high track temperature in the afternoon. Obviously we’re a little bit disappointed about the race results today for whatever reasons. Especially the first race went bad beginning with a poor start so we worked hard on that for race two. John did a much better start this time but he was racing again taking not too much risk because the World Championship is the most important aspect for all of us. But overall, it was a positive stay in Barcelona.”
Terrell THIEN (Team manager):
“Our Barcelona test was a welcome and at the same time important opportunity for us, so we have to say a big thank you to Peugeot and Mahindra for this opportunity and also for the trust in our team to continue to help and support this project.”
Source: Peugeot MC SAXOPRINT
