Scotland's John McPhee was treated to a surprise Moto3 podium yesterday at the Red Bull Ring MotoGP round and it elevated him to second in the championship chase.

McPhee didn’t make the best of starts when the lights went out, but he recovered well to hold position in third at the end of the first lap. The opening laps saw the Scot put the hammer down to try to escape the back with the other leading riders.

It wasn’t long before McPhee could capitalise on the situation and move into the lead. However, he fell foul of the slipstream effect that the Austrian circuit produces and found himself back in the middle of the pack.

McPhee crossed the line in sixth place after yet another frantic scrap in the tiddler class but with stewards handing out track limits penalties like Smarties, the Petronas Sprinta rider found himself elevated to third and 16 points.

"Honestly to be gifted a podium is not the nicest way to have one, but we’ll certainly take it. In the race I felt really strong, I was able to pass the other guys with ease and that’s not normal in Moto3," said the Oban rider.

"I owe a huge thank you to the team for that, for giving me such a good bike today. One small issue that we had was the straight-line speed, for whatever reason I wasn’t able to pass on the straights.

"This is something we need to look at for the next race, but for now we can celebrate, enjoy this podium and look forward to racing here again next weekend. Everybody knows that it’s a short season, but everyone is attacking like it’s the final race of the season!

"There’s no time to rest now, so tomorrow we will start working towards next Sunday’s race."