Despite a strong start, John McPhee ultimately ended the GermanGP 11th after being forced to run wide to avoid another Moto3 rider’s crash. PETRONAS Sprinta Racing team-mate Darryn Binder recovered from his ride through penalty to claim two points in 14th.

A good start from fourth on the grid saw McPhee climb two places by the second lap and stay inside the podium fight throughout the opening laps. Keeping himself within the leading group, the Scot was forced to take avoiding action as two riders crashed in front of him on lap 13, which dropped him to 16th. Quick to recover to 11th, John was ultimately unable to close the gap to the top-ten but successfully defended his 11th position to the finish line. McPhee is now 16th in the championship standings, with 27 points.

Team-mate Binder was able to make his way up to ninth, from his original starting position of 18th, before taking his ride through penalty at the end of lap 3. Returning to the circuit in 24th and 12 seconds adrift, the South African pushed hard to steadily reduce the gap, joining the back of the field on lap 14. Demonstrating great pace and resilience, Darryn made his way through the pack to end the race 14th – claiming two world championship points, bringing his total to 60 and moving to seventh in the riders’ standings.

The Moto3 duo will now head straight to the Netherlands for the final round before the summer break: the DutchGP (25-27 June).

Johan Stigefelt

John had a good starting position today and he felt very strong coming into this race. He rode very well in the beginning, but then got pushed out wide in a couple of corners. Then it happened again when he had to avoid a crash in front. He lost three and a half seconds to the group, so it was impossible to catch them.

It was also a tough race for Darryn with his ride through penalty, but there wasn’t much that we could do except try for some points. He was able to do this and I’m happy that both him and John were able to bring home points, but the results could have been a lot better today.

John McPhee

It has been a solid weekend overall and I’ve been fast throughout, including being quickest on day one and then fourth on day two. We’ve been able to show that the speed and consistency are there, we were just unlucky to get caught up in another rider’s crash in the race and had to take to the grass to avoid it. We lost a lot of time and I was unable to claw it back by the end of the race. I had to settle for P11, that was the most we could do today, but we can take the positives away with us. I’m looking forward to Assen, where I hope we can turn our race day fortunes around.

Darryn Binder

Unfortunately after a mistake in Q1 yesterday the stewards gave me two penalties: the disqualification from Q2 but also a ride-through for today. I was very disappointed because the ride-through does ruin your race, but I went out and did what I could. I was lucky enough to come away with two points, which is better than nothing! At the least the penalty is out the way, we have points in the bag and now we roll on to Assen – the last round before the summer break. I really want to be able to go into the break with something to celebrate.