Petronas team in good shape, McPhee and Binder secure top ten finish
The next time Moto3 riders will take to the Losail International Circuit, will be on Friday 26 for the opening free practice session after Official testing in Qatar has come to an end.
One of the stronger teams during the test was Petronas Sprinta Racing Team, who arguably have the strongest rider line-up in Moto3 with Darryn Binder and John McPhee.
Binder is going into his first season with the team after moving from CIP Green Power Racing, and settled to his new surroundings immediately, topping the final session on day one.
The South African eventually finished tenth on the combined times on Sunday and said: "Today was a really good day and I’m happy with how all three days have gone to be honest.
"We did a half-race simulation today, which was really good, to see how everything is going to work for next weekend. At the end we wanted to go for one final time attack but I didn’t get the cleanest of laps.
"I still feel like I’ve got more in the tank, so I’m really excited for next weekend and I’m chuffed with these three days.
"I think we’ve made a really good step in the right direction and I’ve adapted well to the Honda, I’ve taken a real liking to it. I’m now looking forward to seeing what happens in the race next week."
Like Binder, McPhee also topped a session which was on the second day and finished the test in seventh place overall, as he looks to win the title in his ninth full season in the class.
"We continued to work our way through our test plan today, focusing on two key things to try and understand what’s working on different areas of the track," added McPhee.
"I think we’ve got a good understanding of where we’re at with the setting. I was happy with my lap time because it’s my fastest lap ever at Qatar and I even came across someone riding slow on their outlap, so there’s potential to go even faster.
"I’m really happy with our race pace as well. Overall it’s been very productive and we’ve tried a lot of different things.
"We’ve found a lot of things that work and also found some areas where if we’re struggling we know how to improve it."
