Filip Salac secured Friday’s Moto3 honours at Le Mans after mixed conditions provided unpredictable and dramatic practice sessions for the lightweight class.
Two promising performances from John McPhee saw the Scot lead the morning session before concluding the day in third, behind Romano Fenati.
Enduring the worst of Friday’s conditions, Moto3 got off to the wettest of starts, seven crashes in the opening 12 minutes demonstrating the free practice challenges with Fenati failing even to complete his out-lap and with some riders having multiple spills as the session continued, the fallers totalled 16 by the end of the 40 minutes.
Despite the drama McPhee came out on top, ahead of newly-signed - to Snipers - Andrea Migno, after the current VR46 rider’s time was deleted due to track-limit infringements. Having deciding to stay out and learn the conditions for the duration, the Scot’s confidence improved with every lap, initially sitting him ninth before moving up to third.
As the clock struck 10 minutes to go, the Petronas rider hit the top spot with a 1’55.274, improving his time again as he continued to circulate strongly, championship-leader Ai Ogura frustrated to find the gravel in the same lap, before Migno regained the lead in the final minute with a 1’54.810 - the time deleted after the flag, reinstating McPhee. Having repeatedly headed the field throughout FP1, Migno finished second, ahead of Albert Arenas, Filip Salac and Raul Fernandez.
The afternoon began with a damp but drying track; Carlos Tatay making early gains from Arenas and Tony Arbolino, with McPhee one of 15 riders choosing to remain in the pits for the first 15 minutes of the inconsistent conditions - Alcoba the only rider forcibly suspended from the action due to irresponsible riding in Barcelona’s FP3.
Finally venturing out on track at the mid-way point, McPhee circulated in 18th for his opening laps, Salac and Romano Fenati vying for control of the standings, with Ricardo Rossi, Davide Pizzoli and Migno in the top-five.
His third lap of the afternoon promoted the Scotsman into seventh and the momentum continued to move him further up the times as he settled into his rhythm. Working consistently with his teammate in the final 10 minutes, the Petronas duo slipstreamed in tandem, Khairul Idham Pawi claiming the top-spot with McPhee second before Jaume Masia jumped to the lead and the duo switched places for third and fourth moments later.
McPhee was far from done, however, as his pace continued to improve, the Leopard and Petronas riders repeatedly swapping control before Fenati mounted his charge.
A final flourish saw Salac win out ahead of Fenati and McPhee, Masia, Migno and Pawi sitting top-six. A late charge gave Ogura seventh with Celestino Vietti, Niccolò Antonelli and Yuki Kunii rounding out the top-10. Arenas finished 13th behind Gabriel Rodrigo and Deniz Öncü, Sergio Garcia and Dennis Foggia 14th and 15th respectively.
