Fourth row for McPhee at Catalan GP

2020-09-30 12:18
Despite showing good pace, PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s Moto3 riders John McPhee and Khairul Idham Pawi were unable to take full advantage of the all-important slipstream effect in today’s qualifying session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. McPhee will start tomorrow’s Catalan GP from 12th, whilst KIP will line up 27th on the grid.

McPhee fell victim to track limits in FP3, after his fastest lap was deleted. This left him 21st with a best time of 1min 49.690secs, which translated to 19th overall and with work to do in Q1. Despite other riders trying to use the Scot for a slipstream, he was able to finish Q1 third and progress to Q2. Unable to take advantage of the vital slipstream effect, John was only able to set a 1min 48.875secs lap, which will see him line up on the grid 12th.

Team-mate KIP was able to improve upon his best lap time from yesterday in the cool conditions of FP3, but it was not enough to secure a place in Q2. He finished the session 29th with a 1min 50.349secs lap, giving him 30th overall. Unfortunately KIP wasn’t able to benefit from the slipstream in Q1 and set a 1min 50.212secs lap, which will see him start tomorrow’s race from 27th.

Sunday’s Warm Up session for the Moto3 pair will get underway at 9.40am local time (3.40pm MYT), with the lights going out for the 21-lap race one hour later than usual at 12pm local time (6pm MYT).






John McPhee
12th (1'48.875)





Although we had a tough FP3 and had to go through to Q1, I actually felt like my pace has been very strong, especially the race pace. The problem with this track is that it has long straights, so even if you are the fastest rider on circuit you still need a slipstream to be at the top of the timesheets. I think for this reason we have seen many of the top guys in Q1, because we tried our best to go alone. Qualifying was a bit of a gamble, as there were many riders with a similar pace, but it depends who can make the best lap strategy or be in a group. To be P12 is okay, not exactly the target, but we can fight from here tomorrow. We know we have a good race pace so we can look forward to a strong day tomorrow.

Source: SIC Racing Team

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