John McPhee kept his Petronas Honda firmly in Q2 contention across both practices at Assen on Friday despite light rain preventing the usual afternoon time attack.

McPhee ran strongly from the outset in FP1 as he circulated in the top-three along with teammate Darryn Binder, before concluding his first eight-lap-run in fourth. His final effort of the morning - a 1’42.440 - placed him ninth, with the Scot matching his time, and again inside the top-four, at the start of FP2.

With late-session hot-laps prevented due to the falling afternoon rain, McPhee’s initial 1’42.503 time placed him seventh in FP2, with his morning effort enough for tenth in the combined times and inside the provisional promotion zone ahead of Saturday morning’s final practice.

“Today has been a fairly productive day and we did a lot of laps on the hard tyre,” McPhee said from the Assen paddock.

“In the end we spent the whole day on the hard tyre, as we planned to use the soft at the end of FP2 but with the rain we didn’t get that opportunity. I felt good with the used tyre and managed to find a good rhythm. It looks like there is quite a bit of time to be gained with the soft tyre.

“Overall I think we’ve done a solid job, improved the feeling and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a time attack in tomorrow.

“Although I’m excited to ride in either the wet or dry – we always have fun in the wet conditions.”