Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) will lineup on the front row of the grid for the first time since the 2018 Dutch GP after securing a P3 grid slot for Sunday’s Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas.
The British rider has been on the pace in 2019 and a front row start in Austin is a strong sign that Crutchlow is ready to mount another podium challenge, one that will repair some of the wounds from Argentina if he was to achieve it.
“Yeah, and if I get a start like I did in Argentina I’ll lead into the first corner also, so I cannot wait for tomorrow’s start,” joked Crutchlow. “No of course we’re happy overall, we were happy with our pace in Argentina, my team did a fantastic job – the LCR Honda Castrol Honda team and HRC have been working very hard lately to give us a bike capable of being at the front. And it shows we have that because at the last three Grands Prix we’ve been at the front in a lot of sessions. I’m positive for tomorrow of course, I look forward to having a good race. We share the front row with two great riders and we’ll go with.”
The 33-year-old is confident about his race pace, but remains unsure as to how much advantage fellow Honda man and the undisputed COTA King Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has over his rivals.
“I feel good, I feel good. I don’t know how fast Marc is compared to everyone else. He’s really difficult to understand because normally he goes a lot faster in the practice and qualifying than he does in the race so let’s see. I think for sure he has a superior pace but there’s a lot of guys that are close behind, so it’ll be a good battle for sure.
“I plan for him not to escape,” vowed Crutchlow, with himself and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) the first in line to upset the Austin applecart. “We need to be able to make these guys not be able to breathe you know and we will try our best. But if he escapes, he escapes. We’ll try and get the best result after that.”
Will Crutchlow help turn the tables in Texas? Find out when the premier class go racing at 14:00 local time (GMT-5).