MotoGP Assen: ‘We can be strong on hard tyres’ - McPhee

A late session crash denied Sterilgarda Husqvarna’s John McPhee further than the fourth row in Saturday’s Moto3 qualifying at Assen.

Having secured a 1’42.121 lap time on his third lap of the Q2 session, McPhee slid out at turn one as he fired up for his final timed attack as the session drew to a close, leaving him 11th.

Saturday morning had seen the Scot score direct entry into the final shootout from 13th in the lightweight class’ first taste of the TT track in dry conditions after firmly enjoying Friday’s wet weather showcase.

While the only crash of the weekend came just as he was looking to push on fresh rubber, McPhee remains confident of his potential for Sunday’s 22-lap race.

“It was a shame to crash in the last lap of qualifying,” McPhee admitted. “By the end we had a really good track position and I wanted to try and dig deep for a lap time but unfortunately, I crashed in the first corner, so I was not able to improve.

“I struggled a bit with the soft tyres today. I was not able to take benefits from the extra grip, it just caused more problems, so we have some work to do.

“The good thing is that we feel good with the hard tyres so for the race tomorrow we need to save one to use. Anyway I have something we can work on and I am sure we can be strong.”