John McPhee gave Petronas a near perfect start to the first day of the Moto3 ItalianGP weekend, placing third in FP2, 0.281secs shy of his leading teammate. 

McPhee was neatly behind Darryn Binder as the pair locked out the top-two for the SRT squad until the dying seconds, Dennis Foggia demoting the Scot at the close of play.  

“I’m really happy with today and it feels good to be back at the Mugello circuit” he said from the Tuscan paddock this afternoon.

“I was riding round in FP1 with a massive smile on my face just really enjoying myself here. I think that also helps you to go faster.”

Opting to stay in the garage a little longer than most riders as Friday began, the 26-year-old was straight up to speed and holding fifth after his first FP1 run. Continuing to improve his pace, the Scot’s 1’58.739 lap time placed him eighth at the end of the 40-minutes before a strong start to FP2, placed him just outside of the top-five.

Heading straight for the top with just over three minutes to go McPhee improved his time once again as the clock counted down, his eventual best, a 1’56.942, placing him third overall thanks to the two late challenges.

"We’ve had a solid day one” he explained. “In the first session we just eased ourselves in to find a rhythm, worked on my pace and just got back up to speed. Then in the first part of FP2 we focused on preparing for the race, before putting a time attack in at the end. 

“I’m really happy with the rhythm because I managed to do three laps on the same lap time, which puts us in a really good place for the rest of the weekend. I think there’s a chance that FP3 could be even faster than FP2, so we’ll need to put in another time attack at the end, but I think we can use the first part to work towards the race.”