Petronas Sprinta’s John McPhee described his position ahead of tomorrow’s 23-lap San Marino Moto3 clash as ‘not ideal’ after a turn-four crash midway through the final qualifying session put paid to hopes of pole after earlier strong pace at the Italian circuit.

Hindered by traffic, his final run left the Scotsman a disappointing 17th, after initial expectations had him hunting for the front row.

“It wasn’t an ideal situation to be in, especially as we’d seen in FP2 the great pace I’d had when alone on track. The first lap I was really happy with, it wasn’t far off the best times from yesterday,” said the Oban rider.

“Then on the second lap I did everything the same but with the higher track temperature the grip wasn’t the same in turn four as this morning. It’s a shame as we should have been up on the front row; we had the pace for that.

“Misano is always a good race and I’m up for the fight tomorrow; we’ve got the race pace, I’ve just made it a little harder for myself. We’re in a similar situation to last year and I managed to finish on the podium, so we’ll see.”