MotoGP Sepang: Brake failures hamper McPhee

John McPhee had a day of technical issues on his Sterilgarda Husqvarna derailing his Moto3 free practice progress at Sepang.

Brake failure in FP1 and fade in the afternoon prevented McPhee from hitting a time attack run in either of Friday’s intensely humid practice session with the Scot completing the opening action 19th in the combined times.

His 2’13.755 best found him 1.5 seconds adrift of Dennis Foggia’s overall target and four tenths shy of the promotion zone with Saturday’s all-important FP3 threatening rain.

“Unfortunately today I wasn’t able to ride in a normal way,” McPhee said from Sepang. “In FP1 when we put the soft tyre in, I had brake failure and had to finish my session without a laptime. In FP2, again when I tried to make a time attack, I had brake fade.

“It’s frustrating as a rider as I’m not able to focus on the job in hand when I’m constantly thinking about a technical issue.

“I feel for my mechanics as it’s not an issue from their side as they are doing a great job. Tomorrow I’ll reset and push hard in FP3 to try and go straight to Q2. On the hard tyre my rhythm was okay so it shows the potential is there if we can fix some problems.”