John McPhee had a tough but useful qualifying session at the Twin Ring Motegi, with conditions still treacherous as rain continues to dampen the Japanese GP.
The Brit did a best lap of 2:10.925 in the rainy qualifying session - 18th fastest - but looks set to start P17 following grid penalties to be applied to other riders. Putting in 16 laps in the session and quickest on his final attempt after gathering lots of valuable information, McPhee will push to move forward on Sunday - something he is not stranger to this season.
Lights go out for the lightweight class race at 11:00 local time, which is GMT +9.
John McPhee, P18: "Today was a big learning curve for me and thankfully we gained lots of valuable information. I've not been strong in the wet all year which has been really strange for me but we've finally got a good direction with the bike and started making progress! My final position wasn't good but my feeling is coming much better and this makes me even more excited for the race tomorrow."