Honda’s road racing riders John McGuinness and Conor Cummins, this morning completed the 12-lap Macau Grand Prix, where the duo crossed the line aboard their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines in fourth and seventh places.

The 2015 Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix – 49th Edition got underway at 1505 local time (0705 GMT) with McGuinness starting from fifth and Cummins seventh on the grid. By the second lap the Honda Racing pair were sitting sixth and seventh, and by the seventh rotation had moved back a place each (seventh and eighth).

The closing stages of the race saw the battle in the middle of the pack intensify and McGuinness set about moving his CBR further up the group. On the final lap the Morecambe Missile started to hunt down Gary Johnson, and a perfect move round the outside saw McGuinness claim the fourth place spot.

Meanwhile teammate Cummins, who hasn’t raced at Macau since 2012, enjoyed a good battle with Ian Hutchinson. The Manxman eventually crossed the line seventh. The 2015 Macau Grand Prix was won by Peter Hickman.

John McGuinness:

It was a really fun race and I enjoyed myself out there! I got an average start off the line and it was just wheel-to-wheel for the whole 12-laps. I saw Jessopp got a mega start closely followed by Hickman, but didn’t see where they went after that. I had a great race with Michael, Gary and Hutchy, and then Stuart [Easton] came from nowhere and got stuck into our group. The move on Gary for fourth was brave, but I had confidence in myself and the Fireblade that we’d make it, so thought just go for it! I am slightly disappointed that I wasn’t on the podium, but I’ve had a good year and am happy with fourth, it’s a good way to end the season. Congratulations to all competitors and I’m glad everyone came back safe, as it is really wheel-to-wheel out there. Thanks to all my team and also well done to Conor, we’ve all really enjoyed ourselves.

Conor Cummins:

I finished the race in seventh and I’m happy enough with that result. I was on the back of the podium group and just couldn’t find the space I needed to make a move to progress up. It was wheel-to-wheel and very close out there, but I’m happy to have started seventh and finish seventh. The Fireblade has been faultless and it's been great to ride here again, so a huge thanks to Honda Racing and the team for preparing such an amazing machine for me to ride.