The Emilia Romagna GP proved to be a difficult taskmaster for PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s John McPhee and Khairul Idham Pawi, with the Moto3 combo taking tenth and 24th respectively. Tenth for McPhee means the race winner last time out maintains third in the championship standings.
Both riders gained a position before the race started due to an injury-induced withdrawal from a rival rider but both riders had to work hard for subsequent progress. Nevertheless, John was able to join the leading pack with ten laps to go. Being forced wide with two laps to go denied the Scot from challenging for the podium and he finally crossed the line tenth, maintaining his third place in the championship standings.
Team-mate KIP didn’t have the best of starts, due to another rider, and found himself losing places on the opening lap. Continuing to build confidence aboard his Honda NSF250RW, the Malaysian had a quiet race, as he slightly improved his pace around the 4.2km circuit. KIP crossed the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli finish line 24th.
McPhee and KIP will now head straight into the ninth round of the Moto3 championship: the Gran Premi de Catalunya (25-27 September).
Johan Stigefelt
Team Director
It’s been a tough weekend in Moto3. It wasn’t easy from the beginning; we struggled from FP1 due to some technical issues with John’s bike and then we never really had the pace. He did great in the race though as he came from 19th to be part of the front group. Unfortunately on the penultimate lap he was pushed wide in Turn 4, which cost him a lot of positions. He finished tenth, which isn’t great, but that can happen in Moto3.
KIP hasn’t taken the step forward that we would like, so we need to check in Barcelona what we can do – for example change something on his bike to give him more confidence. He was a bit weak in the beginning of the race before he started getting better in the closing stages. Unfortunately it was too late for him to make much progress. We will keep working and try to find a way for KIP to have a better race next weekend.