John McPhee’s Aragon adventure got off to an awkward start at the Motorland circuit on the opening day of practice, after a lack of clear air in the afternoon session prevented him setting a satisfactory time-attack, leaving the Scot finishing a frustrating 15th.

A promising morning despite bitterly cold conditions saw the Petronas Sprinta rider conclude the first 40-minutes of track action in third position - with a best time of 2’0.316 - after remaining firmly within the top-10 for the entirety of the opening session.

With track temperatures almost trebling for the afternoon outing, McPhee concentrated his efforts on a long-run strategy before switching his attention to a time-attack in the closing stages. Unfortunately, the Scot struggled to set a clear lap due to the amount of traffic around him, his best, a 1’59.317, enough for 15th overall at the close of FP2.

“The feeling isn’t too bad. I did quite a long run in FP2, so that we could see how the tyre managed at this circuit," said McPhee.

"It’s pretty much the only session that we can do this in here and during the long run I felt strong.

“For my flying lap I didn’t plan to go in the group, but I ended up right in the middle of it and had to fight with other riders. This made it difficult to get a clear lap, but we know the speed is there.

“It will be tricky tomorrow morning to go faster, but I feel like we have the pace to go through to Q2 anyway. The position wasn’t what we wanted today, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”