LCR Honda Castrol’s Cal Crutchlow will start Sunday’s Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky from P5 after a strong qualifying session, which saw the Brit provisionally sit second before a flurry of quick times at the end pushed him down to the middle of the second row.
Reflecting on Q2, Crutchlow was relatively pleased after experiencing front tyre issues so far this weekend. “We’re happy enough. At the end of the day, we have the problem with the front tyre to manage this weekend,” explained the Argentina GP winner. “We know that if the rivals and other manufacturers are using the hard tyre already, we are already in trouble. We did the best job we could. I enjoyed the qualifying session and fifth was the best we could do today.”
The Honda rider ended Friday down in P14, but his FP3 time propelled him up to P7 to see him straight into the Q2 shootout – despite a late crash on Saturday morning. “It was completely my own fault. I ran out of talent,” admitted the number 35. “I went out onto the really dirty part of the track, I was already going out, and I tried to save it. I was already on the floor, then I opened the throttle and made it even worse. It’s the way it is when you’re pushing like us at the moment.”
Thankfully for the three-time Grand Prix winner, no such issues happened in qualifying, but what does he expect for the race? “The team and Honda are doing very well and we’re trying our best to be competitive. I feel that we have the pace for the podium.”