Positive first day at Misano for PETRONAS Sprinta Racing

2020-09-14 07:24
The opening day of the San Marino GP was a good one for PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s Moto3 riders, with John McPhee ending the day seventh fastest. Team-mate Khairul Idham Pawi, who is returning after surgery to his finger, was 30th.

McPhee started the day strong, setting a series of consistent and fast laps in the morning’s Free Practice session, which saw him at the sharp end of the timings for the majority of the 40 minutes. John’s fastest time of the morning, a 1min 43.128secs lap, placed him fourth. Although the Scot was able to improve his time in the afternoon session to 1min 43.050secs (the sixth fastest time), he ended the day seventh in the combined standings.

Team-mate KIP, who was back aboard his Honda NSF250RW for the first time since surgery to his finger, spent the majority of the day acclimatising to his bike. The Malaysian rider completed 14 laps in the first session of the day with a fastest time of 1min 44.813secs, which placed him 23rd. KIP was also able to improve his time to 1min 44.528secs and finished FP2 30th, which is also his final position in the combined times.

The Moto3 pair will be back on track tomorrow at 9am local time (3pm MYT) for FP3, before the first qualifying session gets underway at 12.35pm local time (6.35pm MYT).






John McPhee
7th (1'43.050)





I’ve really been enjoying the new asphalt; there are still some bumps but overall I think the track is in a much better condition. I’m really happy with today overall. Across both FP1 and FP2 I focused on lapping with the used tyre and my rhythm seemed very strong. At the end of FP2 I did my final lap alone, with no slipstream, and it was an okay lap. There’s definitely room for improvement, but I feel strong and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Like always, I’m aiming to be on the front row, or at least very close to the front.

Source: SIC Racing Team

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story