Dan Linfoot made an impressive debut performance racing at the 42nd Macau Motorcycle GP today. The 20 year old riding the Rob Mac Racing Yamaha Supersport 600 R6 exceeded all expectations by qualifying fourth in the 600cc class and 20th overall despite being up against road riding legends including John McGuiness and Michael Rutter riding full blown Superbikes.
 
In warm sunny conditions, Dan spent the entire 45 minute opening practice session on track, putting in laps in an effort to understand the long 3.8 mile-mile public road circuit located in the Portuguese colony of Macau.

Despite it being his first time racing on the road after a career in world championship short circuit racing, the Harrogate rider looked comfortable onboard the powerful Rob Mac Yamaha setting a lap time of 2m 40.490 after 16 laps.
 
Following the opening session Dan was able to give the proven Rob Mac Racing team good feedback on the performance of the Yamaha R6. This allowed the British Superbike squad to make some suspension changes in preparation for the first qualifying session.

With a good lap time and knowledge of the circuit already under his belt, Dan upped his pace considerably during qualifying by slashing his lap time. Having been over five seconds adrift of the Supersport pole man, in the opening practice session, Dan’s impressive 2m 36.79s lap set in qualifying, was significantly just three seconds slower than the class leaders.
 
“Macau is a mega place and the track is something special. Racing here is a completely different experience to what I’m used to and with all the barriers and walls being so close it’s a real buzz," said Linfoot.

"Before I went out on track I thought it looked a bit scary, but as soon as I put my helmet on and got on the bike there’s no worries and I’m already tucking in behind the screen to avoid rubbing my shoulder on the walls.”
 
“I got to test the bike before we came out at Cadwell Park, but racing on a public road is obviously different. We’ve softened the suspension to help it absorb the bumps and man hole covers and with the gearing we’ve found its working well.

"In qualifying I did an eight lap stint and then came in to make a few small changes. When I went out the times started to come a lot easier and I was literally knocking a second off my lap time each lap. My last lap didn’t feel fast but it was a second quicker again which is great because I still feel there is a lot more to come.”