Petronas Sprinta's John McPhee was nerfed out of third place on the final lap of yesterday's Moto3 race at the Jerez MotoGP round but is now full of confidence after a solid performance.
The Scotsman didn’t have the best of starts and found himself slipping back from third off the line but made his way back up to the leading pack to go second at the halfway point.
An intense battle, characteristic of the Moto3 series commenced, which saw him lead in the closing laps. McPhee was third going into the last lap and looked to be in with a chance of the race win.
Unfortunately, crowding in the final corner left McPhee with nowhere to go and he was wiped out by Tony Arbolino, himself pushed wide by Celestino Vietti.
"Unfortunately that’s racing. I gave everything I had today and tried my best on the last lap," said McPhee.
"I didn’t get a great start and I had to overwork the tyres a bit to get back to the sharp end, but it means I’ve got more knowledge ahead of the next race.
"The good thing is I felt strong all race. It’s unfortunate about the result, but these things happen and we’ll try again next week.
"We know now that we can turn up at every race and be near the front, to be within the podium positions. Knowing that is a massive confidence boost, everything is working well with my bike and we’re doing everything we can as a team."
McPhee's second place last time out in Qatar was good enough to keep him third in the championship standings.
