With the final test of the 2019 preseason now in the bag, PETRONAS Sprinta Racing are ready for the opening round of the Moto3 World Championship after an intense period of preparation. Both riders and their technical staff have found good base settings for their Moto3 machines, giving them plenty of reason for optimism ahead of the new campaign. John McPhee ended the Qatar test tonight in 6th place with his teammate Ayumu Sasaki in 15th.

After a period of adaptation to the Honda, John McPhee and his team are now feeling satisfied with the package they have worked so hard to find. The Scotsman has been consistent throughout the three days in Qatar, setting strong lap times riding alone. The PETRONAS Sprinta Racing rider clocked his best lap of the Qatar test tonight with a 2’05.899 during the second session.

With preseason now complete, PETRONAS Sprinta Racing are looking forward to the start of the new season, with the GP of Qatar due to get underway with the opening free practice sessions on Friday 8th March.


#17 John McPhee

“We have had three very productive days here in Qatar. We already had a good base set-up for the bike after the Jerez test but we have kept working as a team to improve the feeling even more. I am very happy with how the team is working, they have all been fantastic and step by step we have improved the lap time and our race pace. These three days we mainly focused on race pace and race setting and I feel very comfortable and consistent over a long run. We treated the second session tonight as more like a qualifying session to see what lap time we could manage and we ended up happy with the lap time because I set it on my own. It is great to finish the last test of preseason like this.”

Hi everyone,

It’s the first race week of the year! I’m really excited to get back to it after the long winter break.

My pre-season testing has went well and I’m feeling really happy and settled inside the Petronas team. From the Sepang test until now I feel like I’ve made a good step forwards in terms of performance and I’m feeling good on my Honda. Of course there is always room for improvement but up to now I feel like my crew have done a fantastic job in helping me find the feeling I’m looking for.

I’ve focused a lot on longer runs and tyre life over the last few days testing here in Qatar, finally finishing the test with a push to see what my outright lap time was. I finished in P6 overall with a 2’05.8 which is my fastest lap to date at this circuit, which is really encouraging. The pace from many other riders was also strong over the last few days so it’s hard to know where we’re at exactly but all I know is that’s I’m feeling 100% ready and looking forward to the race on Sunday.

As always, thanks for your support!

John