John McPhee’s Catalan Moto3 concluded earlier than planned after a second-place scrap turned into a turn-four crash for the disappointed Scot on lap five of Barcelona’s opening contest.

A promising start from the Petronas Sprinta rider saw him make immediate progress from 12th on the grid as the lights went out. Moving to ninth in the opening revolution before setting fastest laps as he broke into the top three the Scot continued to fight at the sharp end as the battle took hold.

A challenge for second on championship-leader Albert Arenas, however, unfortunately brought McPhee’s race to an early end after just six laps, after he lost the front end braking to avoid the Aspar KTM at turn four.

With Arenas also down, McPhee’s third place in the championship standings remains, albeit now 24 points behind new leader Ai Ogura.

“It’s a real shame to finish the race like this. I felt so strong on the first part of the race and was immediately able to make my way to the front," said McPhee.

“I apologise to my crew for the crash. It’s a shame, but it was a racing incident. I felt like I had already passed Arenas cleanly, but then he released the brake and tried to close the gap on me. I had to squeeze the brake as I had nowhere to go and I lost the front. I also want to apologise to Albert, for being collected in my crash.

“This is racing, it happens, and now we focus on Le Mans.”