MotoGP: Catch Up with John McPhee – Moto3 Rider

In his 7th season of racing with the worlds best in Moto3, John McPhee has scored eight podiums, three pole positions, two fastest laps and has won two Grand Prix World Championship races, most recently at Le Mans, Round 5.

Ahead of the Catalan Grand Prix in Spain, we caught up with the man from Oban, Scotland and asked him a number of questions about this years Moto3 championship, his aspirations for the future, his closest challengers, his new Petronas Sprinta Racing team and who he tries to avoid racing on track.

As you can imagine, he didn’t hold back and was very open and honest. After the usual greetings, we just jumped straight into it.

MR – John, what do you do to prepare yourself for the weekend?

JM – Just a standard usual Thursday, we just make our way through a tyre plan, we always get an allocation of tyres prior to the event, understand what kind of tyres you’re going to use and when you’re going to use them. You generally start every weekend with more-or-less the same bike you finished the last weekend on but if you have got any changes that you want to make or anything you want to try, we just kind of make our way through that, that’s what we have been busy with this morning.

MR – This year in practice you have been doing a lot of riding by yourself, why the change of approach from previous seasons?

JM – In Moto3 it’s so easy to get roped into waiting around, trying to get a tow, trying to get into a group. For obvious reasons, you can win so much lap time in the slipstream by doing it that way but what we found that by doing it like that it was too inconsistent so in one session you could get a fantastic slipstream, the next session you could get held up by a couple of guys. Following the results on paper, it was just way too inconsistent and the obviously for myself wanting to move up to Moto2 as soon as possible, I think being able to ride alone and being able to show that you are there consistently and being able to do the lap time alone means a lot, so it’s something I have been trying to do on my own, to bring it into my riding style.

MR – Do you feel that you are riding better this year?

JM – I’m kind of at the stage now, if I’m riding on my own a bad day is around P10 (tenth position) you know that is a bad day for us, whereas all of last weekend (Mugello) and the weekends before that I was quite consistently inside the top 5 in every session and then the sessions where things really come well together are maybe when I’m on a long run on my own and then I come across a slip stream (from another rider) then I can put it up there and finish top the session.

MR – You took the teams first ever win in Le Mans, the team has a bike in Moto2 and in MotoGP. Is there talks of you moving up to Moto2 next season with the team?

JM – Yeah, there is talks, that was obviously my plan when I came here (to the team) and signed for Moto3 it was seeing that stepping stone there and the opportunity to go forwards, so, yeah… that is definitely my dream to step up with these guys. They have one bike at the moment (in Moto2) and (Khairul Idham) Pawi is on a three year contract (2019, 20 & 21) so he will be here next year, there is talks of a second bike but nothing confirmed yet so, it’s early days, it’s too early to say at the moment but either way, I’ll be hoping to step up next year.

MR – Do you feel that your are at the top of their list?

JM – It’s hard to say, I mean, you never know, I imagine everyone in the paddock will be knocking and asking, it’s really hard to say, I don’t know if Ayumu (Sasaki) – John’s team-mate in Moto3 – is looking to do the same kind of thing, if he’ll be looking to step up at some point. It’s really hard to say who they’re looking at because it’s way too early.

I think for the first few races until we got to Jerez were really frustrating having such a big group (of riders) at the front because I knew my speed was there but I wasn’t really able to get into the fight

MR – How much are you enjoying the racing in Moto3 this season?

JM – I’m really enjoying it, actually really enjoying it. The first couple of races especially Argentina, all weekend I was really fast and I think I topped nearly all the sessions so I had the pace and I had good speed there but – *long pause* – what happened basically, I done everything alone, I felt good on the bike and was able to do a lap time but when we got into the race, I quite quickly realised that I was able to do the lap time when I was alone but when I was having to try and dive up the inside of people or tried to ride defensive, I really struggled in the battle. I think for the first few races until we got to Jerez were really frustrating having such a big group (of riders) at the front because I knew my speed was there but I wasn’t really able to get into the fight (for the podium). Then from Jerez onward and then obviously into Le Mans, we managed to adapt to the bike a little bit more to be able to fight, to be able to pass people on the brake sand that really helped me and since Jerez onward, i have really enjoyed the battle on track on a Sunday.

MR – With so many people capable of winning in 2019, many people see you as a challenger for the championship this year. How much do you see yourself being able to challenge for the title and do you mind being called a challenger?

JM – Yeah *laughs* I don’t mind being called that. I think, basically since Qatar the first race of the season and even since pre-season testing I’ve been fast and we’ve had the pace and I’ve kind of been in that window of 5 -10 riders at the front in more-or-less every session. I think just at the start of the year the way I had the bike set up was kind of for riding fast and smooth – you know, like taking wide sweeping lines and not really focusing on the fight as such. In the races now, what we’re trying from qualifying to the race – sometimes from the fastest lap in qualifying compared to the fastest lap in the race can be like 1 second a lap slower in the race, it’s because the group is that big and there’s that many passes being made that everyone is making each other go slower. You then need a slightly different approach, where instead of having a bike to try and do a lap time, you need a bike where you can brake late, brake deep (into the corner) then be able to turn. It took us a couple of races to really realise that’s the way it’s going to be this year with the field being so close. So what we done was try and change the bike a little bit to help me in the race battle and pass people on the brakes. The nice thing was that I was still able to do the lap time alone just by slightly adapting my riding style so we have the best of both worlds.

MR – There has been (as of conducting this interview) eleven race winners in as many races. Who do you see as your main championship rivals?

JM – It’s hard to say at the moment because (Lorenzo) Dalla Porta has had three podium finishes this year, he’s been in the fight every single weekend. I know I can beat Lorenzo, obviously looking back at Le Mans and there has been quite a few races this year when I have been in front of him but he’s been slightly more consistent. In the races where I haven’t been so strong, he’s still been there in that kind of top 5-6. I think he’s going to be one of the biggest challengers but it is too early to say. I think there is going to be around about five or six guys – come mid-season we won’t know who’s going to be champion at the end of the year but I’m going to be as consistent as possible for the rest of the year and hopefully we’ll be in that fight.

Darryn Binder, he’s a bit of a loose cannon at times, he’s the one that when you come alongside him on track, you kind of go – this is going to be a bit of fun

MR – Who do you enjoy battling on track with the most in Moto3 and who do you try and stay away from?

JM – There’s so many of them, to be fair most of them I enjoy battling with, obviously the ones that are known as the championship favourites, like Aron Canet, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, (Tony) Arbolino. When you’re on track with them, pass them and consistently stay in front on them, that makes it a little bit more enjoyable. Then you get people – I’m actually really good mates with him but on track he’s a nightmare – people like Darryn Binder, *laughs* he’s a bit of a loose cannon at times, he’s the one that when you come alongside him on track, you kind of go “this is going to be a bit of fun”  but we could potentially both end up in the gravel, so you try and avoid him at all cost.

MR – From one year to the next since 2015 you have changed teams and bikes, how difficult is it to transition from one to the other and how much does not having consistency from one year to the next have an impact?

JM – I think one of the biggest downfalls over the past couple of years has been a lack of consistency – as you say – in 2015, I was on the Honda but it wasn’t what you call a factory Honda, it was a customer Honda, we had some factory parts, some non-factory parts so going from that to the Honda I rode in 2017 was quite different – a lot different, actually. In between (2016) we had the Peugeot, the chassis was fantastic, it was a really easy bike to ride, it just didn’t have any power. Last year, 2018 I think was the most difficult year that I had because going from the Honda the year before, which is quite a rider friendly bike then moving onto the KTM. I had never ridden a KTM in my life before so it was quite a hard transition trying to change my riding style and the way I approached it. Thankfully it didn’t take me too long, it was actually this race (Catalunya) last year that I first fought for the victory and came within a couple of tenths (0.257) of the win. It was nice that it didn’t take me long to adapt and I think that it shows that I can adapt to bikes quite quickly. Not having that consistency year-after-year with the same team or with the same bike did make it quite difficult.

MR – You’re with a new team that has a possible progression into Moto2 and MotoGP. What is the team like to be a part of?

JM – The team (I’m with) now has loads of experience with the Honda and they’re a great bunch of guys. They’re very professional in the way that they work and  approach the weekend. I just find them very easy to work with, sometimes in the past you’ll have some people in the team with quite a strong character or it’s difficult to fully understand where they are coming from. I have two Brits and an American in the team so there’s no language barrier there at all, apart from when I get my strong Scottish accent out and they can’t understand me. It makes things much simpler for me to try to explain to them (setup changes) and for them to explain to me. Everything just seems to be falling into place this year and I’m really, really happy with the team, I know that basically I can just turn up, focus on riding the bike and doing the job on hand with no question marks anywhere which makes the riders life a lot easier.

You had some troubles at the start of the year, how important was that win at Le Mans for your season?

JM – Looking back towards Le Mans, having that first victory of the year was a huge moment for me and the team and in Mugello, I was 4 tenths of the victory (finished 6th), it’s good to show that we’re there consistently. I think being able to step back onto the box (podium) again, so close to having that first victory would mean a lot and would back up the result (in Le Mans) and the speed that we know we’ve got.

You’re now a 2-time Grand Prix winner, one was in the wet and the other in the dry. From the two, which one do you cherish more?

JM – *Long Pause* To be honest they’re both on par with each other, the first ever World Championship victory is obviously a huge moment and I think especially in 2016 after the first couple of races I realised that everyone on that manufacturer of bike were almost in a different race. We would get to the end of the race and there would be about ten of us with a few tenths (of second) off each other and to be fair, it felt a bit unrealistic to aim for a victory that year but then to win in the rain at Brno (Czech Republic) was an amazing experience and to win by such a big margin, it was surreal. It wasn’t expected at all and being realistic about it I knew that we hadn’t found the special setting or that the speed was there in the dry. I enjoyed the moment but I knew that it would be difficult moving on for the rest of the year.

I think if I had to take one of the races and show it back to someone that didn’t know anything about Motorbike Racing, I would definitely show them the Le Mans race.

Whereas the win in Le Mans, it was my first ever dry win, it take a lot of weight off you because looking back on paper, I had only won in wet conditions before and you don’t want to be known as a wet weather rider. To have that first (dry) victory, it was a fair fight, there was no strange circumstances, I had championship rivals all around me and I managed to come out of the fight in front so that was a really special moment. I think if I had to take one of the races (that I won) and show it back to someone that didn’t know anything about Motorbike Racing, I would definitely show them the Le Mans race.

John is sitting 9th in the championship, 56 points off the championship lead going into this weekends race at the TT Circuit Assen in Holland