Petronas SRT has confirmed Jake Dixon will get a second opportunity to make his pitch for a full-time MotoGP seat in 2022 with a second Yamaha outing at the Aragon MotoGP, while McPhee will make his long awaited Moto2 debut in his place.
Dixon received a surprise call-up to replace Yamaha Factory-bound Cal Crutchlow for the British MotoGP, who in turn was substituting for the injured Franco Morbidelli before being tapped to replace the departed Maverick Vinales.
The 2018 BSB runner-up enjoyed a solid debut having never thrown his leg over a MotoGP-spec bike before the weekend, qualifying two seconds shy of the pole position winning time and reaching the chequered flag 50secs off the winner.
As such, Dixon - who is an outside contender for one of the vacant seats in the satellite outfit for the 2022 MotoGP season - will look to reduce those figures around the circuit he achieved his best Moto2 finish of fourth in 2020.
His Petronas Sprinta Racing seat will be kept warm by countryman McPhee, who finally gets his intermediate-category break after a prolonged stay in Moto3 that stretches right back to the 125GP days of 2010.
“It's a fantastic opportunity for me to try the Moto2 bike in Aragon. As with every rider, it's their dream to progress through the categories, and I feel like I am at the level, and have the ability to make this step up to Moto2.
“Of course, the challenge will be extremely difficult because it's my first time ever racing a big bike, with my only real experience being 15 laps of Barcelona in 2019 which was a 'thank you' from the team after my win at Le Mans.
“I'm really excited and motivated for the challenge and really looking forward to trying the bike. There’s no real expectation, I’m just going to enjoy it a lot and feel like if I can improve session by session and keep closing the gap with the fastest riders, then this will be a job well done. Thank you to my team for this opportunity.”
In a year of ‘musical chairs’ for Yamaha and the Sepang Racing Team, McPhee’s Moto3 ride will be assumed by Malaysian youngster Syarifuddin Azman.
