Sunday’s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya was a hard fought affair for all the riders in the MotoGP™ World Championship as high temperatures made tyre life a key factor. The run into Turn 1 saw Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) pushed down to 11th, the Brit attacking in the following laps to work his way forward. By lap three he was ninth and behind twice-former teammate Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), doing all he could to get past. Crutchlow eventually managed to put his RC213V ahead but was unable to make any further progress, settling for sixth after a number of big moments under braking. Sixth sees Crutchlow take his first top ten since the 2015 Valencia GP where he was ninth.
"I ran off the track a couple of times in braking zones, but I managed to bring the bike home"Cal Crutchlow: “I finished sixth, and you have to finish the race in order to pick up some points. First and foremost I beat a lot of guys that I didn’t last time out, and it was a real race of survival. I struggled for speed on the bike, but thankfully I had a great rear tyre. It’s crucial to get away in those first ten laps though, and I just felt I had no speed and I couldn’t use the rear tyre to get a run on anyone.
“I lost some time behind Dovizioso, because I couldn’t stay in front. I’d pass him, or have to lunge at him but he could get past me again. By the time my rear tyre was done, I was riding alone. I wasn’t going to get caught from Dovi behind, but I couldn’t catch Pol Espargaro. I ran off the track a couple of times in braking zones, but I managed to bring the bike home which was the main thing. I’m not pleased with the distance to the winner, but I’m happy.”
Monday proved to be just as positive a day for Cal Crutchlow who led MotoGP™ testing with a fast lap late in the day. Crutchlow’s time was mostly focused on using the hard option tyres and assessing a new Michelin front and two rears. The LCR Honda man was the only rider to drop below the 1’44 barrier, setting a best time of 1’43.963 to conclude the day 0.239s ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP). During the course of the day the Brit completed 73 laps, his fastest time coming on his penultimate circulation.
“Obviously we are happy to be quickest overall, it’s nice to be back on top of the timesheet, even though it’s a Monday and it doesn’t mean anything really. We will take some positives from the day though, and we have worked so well together as a team which means we will go to Assen optimistic. We used the hard tyre for much of the day, because that would be the race tyre here whatever, and we made some setting changes that we had been wanting to try like softening the front end of the bike, which helped it decelerate quite well. There was some electronic stuff to test too, because that takes so long – about 20 to 30 minutes every time you want to make a decent electronic change.
“We tried the new Michelin front in the morning when it was cooler, and it was positive in some areas and not so good in others, but this is the information they require. Then we tried two new rears towards the end of the day. As you can see from the lap time, they were good. We also tried the ‘over-the-top’ wing for Honda to give them some information. I think maybe it’s a little better. ”