Rory Skinner says he will take confidence from cracking the Moto2 World Championship Top 20 for the first time after bringing home a 19th place finish in his American Racing team’s home Grand Prix of The Americas.

The Briton showed showed flashes of potential in what is only his fifth Moto2 race meeting, the former British Superbike (BSB) rider putting himself closer to the mid-pack mix and lapping just a handful of tenths a lap off the Top 15.

Starting 25th at Circuit of The Americas, Skinner kept his head on weekend marred by a number of crashes across all three classes to reach the flag in a career-best 19th.

Having been a close match for more experienced team-mate Sean Dylan Kelly this season and out-performed other rookies at COTA - including 2022 Moto3 World Champion Izan Guevara and Borja Gomez - the Scot is confident there is more to come when the season returns to Europe for round four in Jerez.

“Austin has been a good weekend for me. The atmosphere at the team’s home race has been pretty amazing, meeting all the sponsors and just being among the American Grand Prix, which is a first for me is awesome.

“I really enjoyed it, it’s been a good experience and to come home with my first top 20 in Grand Prix, I’m really happy. 

“I’m happy to be inside the top 20 but a P19 when I still think there was more to come, just a couple of little issues holding us back in the race but I’m sure for Jerez we’ll have it all sorted and we can continue building on what’s been a good first few rounds.”