Wet Moto3 start to European GP for PETRONAS Sprinta Racing

2020-11-06 09:28
The final triple-header of the season got off to a wet start for John McPhee and Khairul Idham Pawi at Circuit Ricardo Tormo today, although the track started to dry in the afternoon. The PETRONAS Sprinta Racing Moto3 riders ended the opening day of the European GP 10th and 29th, respectively.

McPhee headed straight out to assess the wet track conditions, before setting a series of laps that kept him at the sharp end throughout the 40 minutes. The Scot’s fastest lap of 1min 51.170secs placed him seventh at the end of FP1. A dry line in FP2 helped John to go quickest in the opening minutes of the session, but his best time of 1min 46.760secs, set with slick tyres, saw him finish the day in 10th.

KIP had a good start to Free Practice 1, setting times that placed him within the mid-field. However, a Turn 14 highside cut the Malaysian’s session short by a few minutes. He ended FP1 22nd with a best lap of 1min 51.984 secs. Despite improving upon his morning time, setting a 1min 49.345secs lap time on the developing dry line, KIP ended the session 29th.

Moto3 action will resume with Free Practice 3 at 10am local time (5pm MYT) tomorrow, before qualifying gets underway at 1.15pm local time (8.15pm MYT).






John McPhee
10th (1'46.760)





It’s been an interesting day with the weather. It was actually quite nice to have some wet practice because this year we haven’t really had any wet conditions. I felt good in the wet and I didn’t take too many risks in FP1 or FP2, although I tried to set a time that would see us directly through to Q2 in case it is wet again tomorrow morning. Overall it’s been a positive day; we do have room for improvement but I feel good with the bike. I think we’ll have some tough conditions again tomorrow, so we’ll have to push to the limits of the track. Sunday looks like it could be good weather, so it will be important to qualify well and give ourselves the best opportunity to do well.

Source: SIC Racing Team

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