John McPhee masters mixed Moto3 conditions on day one at Le Mans

PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s Moto3 rider John McPhee and teammate Khairul Idham Pawi showed their strength in the changing conditions at the opening day of the French GP. The pair ended Friday’s practice sessions at Le Mans third and sixth respectively.

John proved to be strong in the wet conditions of FP1, staying within the top-five positions throughout the second half of the session. The Scot then moved himself into the top spot, with a 1min 55.217secs lap. Working together with KIP in the drying FP2 session, John was able to improve his time to 1min 45.345secs and end the day both third in session and overall.

The Moto3 pair will be back on track tomorrow for FP3 at 9am local time before the first qualifying session gets underway at 12.35pm local time.

John McPhee
3rd (1’45.345)

It’s been a strange day and the conditions have been difficult, but I felt good in all conditions today. I stayed out on track for all of FP1, found a really good rhythm and managed to top the session, which was really nice. It also means we’ve been able to gather a lot of wet weather data. We went out in FP2 quite early with the slick tyre and stayed out all session again. At the end I had a little bit left still, but happy to finish within the top-three on day one. With the cold temperatures, even with no rain, the track only generates a narrow dry line, which could make it tricky to pass in the race. It makes it interesting and keeps you on your toes, definitely looking forward to the rest of the weekend.