John positive for Misano raceday despite frustrating Qualifying

The PETRONAS Sprinta Racing Moto3 duo of John McPhee and teammate Ayumu Sasaki have ended the second day of action at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli disappointed after qualifying 14th and 19th respectively, but are going into tomorrow’s Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini positive that they can make up for it with a strong race performance.

Showing strong pace all throughout practice, John made an unfortunate error at turn four in Q2 that saw his time attack end before it got started. Finishing the session on the fifth row in 14th after a strong banked lap early in the session, he’s nonetheless upbeat about his potential for tomorrow. Expecting a typical Moto3 group battle at the Misano circuit, he knows that his lap times are good enough to ensure he’s once again in the podium fight.

Sunday’s 23-lap Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli gets underway at 1100 local time.

John McPhee
14th (1’44.326)
“Qualifying was a disappointing session, but the crash was my own mistake. I tried to set my time alone but with higher wind and track temperature it was even more important than ever to get a good track position, but I ended up not in a very good group and I made an error as we were fighting for position. But it’s behind us now, and from 14th we can still be in the fight. Everyone’s lap times are very close and it’s going to be a close race with one big group, but the track conditions will play a big part too; the grip is very tricky to manage.”