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John McPhee leaves the opening round of the 2024 WorldSSP Championship feeling very satisfied after overcoming a difficult start to his weekend to post a pair of strong top eight finishes at Phillip Island.

The Moto3 race winner enters into his second season of WorldSSP in 2024 after making the switch from Kawasaki/Ducati to Triumph machinery with the returning privateer WRP-RT Motorsport by SKM outfit.

A podium winner on his debut in Australia twelve months ago in the wet, though McPhee wouldn’t reach the heights of that result – which was something of a positive anomaly in an otherwise tough maiden campaign – his pair of eighth place finishes represent arguably his best dry weather performance in the intermediate class.

Moreover, they were achieved from a lowly 21st place on the grid in Superpole, but McPhee – buoyed by a very strong start that had him surge up the order – made up positions during the pit-stop phase of Race 1 to break into the top eight.

With fastest laps from Race 1  deciding the front three rows of the grid for Race 2, it earned him a vastly improved seventh on the grid, which he duly converted into a second eighth place result.

“Positive step,” he wrote on Facebook after Race 1. “After some bad luck in QP I started P21 on the grid [but I was] happy to make my way forward and finish P8. 

With the new format, my lap time being 7th fastest of the race meant I started P7 on the grid for Race 2 [going on to finish P8].

“I’m leaving Australia with solid points on the board after Round 1. Happy with how the last two days on track have gone, made good progress with the bike and had decent pace in both races. Thanks to my crew for their hard work all weekend!”