MotoGP Germany: McPhee riding alone ‘shows we’re in good shape’

John McPhee ended Friday in Germany fifth in the Sachsenring standings on his Sterilgarda Husqvarna Moto3 machine.

Fast from the start of day one, McPhee challenged frequently at the top of the times, securing a 1’26.691 lap in FP1 to complete the morning second with just Aspar’s Izan Guevara outpacing the Scot by a quarter of a second.

A day of increasing temperatures left the asphalt in the mid 40’s for FP2, with many riders, including McPhee, unable to improve on their earlier efforts. The 27-year-old’s morning time enough for fifth in the combined times, 0.328s from Tatsuki Suzuki’s Friday target.

“It has been an interesting first day here in Sachsenring,” McPhee said from Germany. “I felt good on the bike almost immediately.

“Honestly I am feeling quite good, we have done the laps alone, even the fastest lap, so I think it shows that we are in very good shape.

“We had to make some small changes to improve the overall feeling, but everything went correctly. I have done a long run with the tyres, to try to understand how my race pace is. We always know that there is more work to do for tomorrow, but day one has been a successful start.”