McPhee starts fifth for Austria Moto3GPposted in OTHER12 | 08 | 2017
SCOTLAND’S FASTEST MAN on two wheel, John McPhee, will start tomorrow’s Austrian Moto3 Grand Prix from fifth on the 33-bike grid.
The 23-year-old from Oban clocked a best time of 1min 36.790secs on the 2.7-mile Red Bull Ring on his British Talent Team Honda 250cc.
The Scot, currently fourth in the championship, starts on the second row of the grid, just 0.287s off the pole set by Argentina’s Gabriel Rodrigo on his KTM.
“It was really difficult out there, because the slipstream means so much here,” McPhee, who finished sixth last time out in the Czech GP, said.
“Free Practice 1 and 2 felt really strong on the bike; I felt really comfortable and felt I could do the lap time alone. Yesterday I could, but today, when everyone was trying to get a tow and they’re all in the group, it was tough.
“This morning I did the whole session on my own with no slipstreaming and I was back down in 24th, so we knew how important it was to get that tow and the slipstream in qualifying today.
“I managed to time it pretty well at the end there, but I don’t know what (Romano) Fenati was up to? He ran off-track and was complaining at another rider, then came back on-track and blocked my line at a couple of corners, so it messed up the last lap a little bit.
“But overall, we’re just two-tenths off the front; we’re on the second row, which is perfect, because tomorrow’s going to be a big group running together through the race.”
Championship leader, Spaniard Joan Mir starts 10th on his Honda, alongside Italian Fenati on another Honda.
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Jim McGill