John McPhee will line the Sterilgarda Husqvarna up on the third row for the Moto3 Thai Grand Prix after qualifying eighth on Saturday afternoon.

The Chang International Circuit brought dry conditions for the second day of action with the Scotsman securing direct entry to Q2 with the ninth fastest time of FP3 as times ignited by over two seconds compared to their Friday equivalents.

With the usual late-session chaos of the lightweight class underway, McPhee’s 1’42.906 set on his final, and solo, lap of Q2 secured him eighth on Sunday’s grid ahead of the 22-lap race, eight tenths shy of Dennis Foggia’s record-breaking pole effort.

“Overall today we managed to make a step forward compared to yesterday,” McPhee confirmed from the Thai circuit. "I felt strong this morning in FP3, we only had a couple of small issues, and then in qualifying the feeling was overall very similar.

“I did the lap time completely alone and we know what advantage the slipstream gives, so for the race tomorrow I feel strong.

“It would be nice if we can find the last little piece that we were missing to improve the bike, but overall, I think it is the best settings we’ve had in a long time.”