Petronas’ John McPhee proved his bad luck is behind him with an impressive fight to fourth in the Moto3 FrenchGP despite a tricky, drying Le Mans track.
Collecting his first points of the 2021 season, the Scotsman had a challenge on his hands as he dropped from fourth on the grid to ninth by the end of the opening lap. Despite the race being declared wet, the Bugatti surface was quickly drying as the 22-laps counted down, with McPhee recovering to fifth by lap three and creating a comfortable gap of over 13-seconds to those behind him.
Pushing hard in the drying conditions he was able to reel in Ayumu Sasaki for fourth by setting three of the races fastest laps but was unfortunate to run out of time in his bid for podium contention, crossing the line 1.5s behind Riccardo Rossi in third. His opening tally of 13 points moving him to 20th in the championship standings after five races.
“After the start I’ve had to the season, this fourth feels a bit like a victory because it’s the first proper finish and first points of the season,” McPhee said from the Le Mans paddock this afternoon.
“It’s such a nice feeling and I’m happy to have achieved it with a strong ride. I tried to be calm and not make any mistakes in the first half of the race, especially as I saw guys falling around me. The conditions were really tricky.
“I managed to up my game a bit towards the end and find the limit a bit more. I was quickly catching Riccardo in the final laps, but made a small mistake into turn eight and lost the front a bit.
“I thought I might have a chance on the last lap, but he put in an amazing lap and he thoroughly deserves the podium. Big thanks to the team for sticking by me through the tough first four ,“ he continued. “Finally we’ve got some points on the board!”
Petronas team boss, Johan Stigefelt concluded the day with praise for his lightweight rider.
“John did an amazing job” he explained. “We’ve been struggling in the first four races of the season with some very bad luck, and it was a very important race for him to finish. He did a great job to finish fourth and be very close to the podium. I’m happy for him and his crew, as they are working hard and now we can start the championship hunt.”
