McPhee to continue with 2014 chassis

John McPhee is hoping that a return to last year’s chassis will offer him a similar run of late season form to 12 months ago. At Aragon the Scot changed to running last year’s Honda frame and immediately felt that the team were more capable of getting a balanced setup from the Moto3 machine.

“We’ve basically decided to continue with the 2014 chassis because we’ve made some improvements with it at Aragon, the race result wasn’t exactly what we wanted but eighth position was up for grabs. For me the biggest thing was that we were a lot closer at Aragon than we had been for most of the year. The next four tracks are ones that we were fast at last year and here at Motegi we were strong last year. This time last year we qualified on the front row and finished just off the podium. I’m hoping that we can finish the season strong because it’s been an up and down year so far.

“To be honest I think that the 2015 chassis is a better chassis but we just couldn’t get it to set it up correctly. We were making progress but we couldn’t find a base setting. We’d find a solution at the end of the weekend but then at the start of the next weekend it wouldn’t work at the next track. When you can develop a base setting with a bike it means that you can arrive at any circuit and feel comfortable on the bike. We had that with the 2014 chassis but we’ve not had it with the new chassis. We have more chatter with the 2014 chassis but I can be more consistent with this chassis because we can find a good base setting.”

With next year’s plans still up in the air for the Scotsman he is talking to teams about staying in Moto3 with continuing on a Honda is his primary objective.

“I want to stay with Honda and I’m speaking to all those teams because I want to stay with them because it’s the best bike out there and I’ve had a good relationship with them over the last few years. I want to stay with them and now it’s just a case of getting a team nailed down.”