Scotland's Stuart Easton, riding the Doosan Honda 1000cc Fireblade, has qualified in sixth place for tomorrow’s 42nd Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Riding the legendary 6.12km Circuito Da Guia, the 24-year-old from Hawick in Scotland achieved a lap time of 2:27.923 to secure his place on the second row of the grid.

 “It’s great to be part of the Doosan team and to be working with such an established crew” said Stuart. “The first Free Practice session was very steady as I was getting used to the Honda Fireblade machine and also having to deal with the very slippery conditions here at Macau.

“First qualifying was much better as I felt increasingly confident on the bike and realised I could push a little harder with every lap and was satisfied to be fifth at the end of the session.

“In qualifying two I was able to improve my lap time by over 2.5 seconds to secure my place on the second row. I’m very happy with my race pace on race tyres and have a podium finish firmly in my sights to reward the team for their fantastic effort and support.”

Crew Chief, Mick Shanley was equally positive: “Stuart fitted into the team immediately and we’re all enjoying working with him. I’m really pleased how quickly he has modified his riding style to our machine and to the conditions here at Macau. Despite his lack of experience on qualifying tyres he has performed very well and I think his performance on race tyres will put him up with the front runners.”

Shaun Muir, Team Owner, is pleased with his team’s performance during qualifying, saying: “A second row start is exactly where we thought we would end up and Stuart has adapted to the bike really quickly. He has worked well with both the bike and the team which has resulted in faster times as each session has progressed. Stuart’s race pace is good enough for a podium finish and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”