Having taken a disappointing 16th in Qualifying, Cal Crutchlow was a man on a mission on Sunday in Mugello. The Brit knew he and his LCR Honda were capable of more and were determined to return to the points after yet another DNF in France. What followed was a challenging race as small issues with the brakes appeared from just the third lap, restricting Crutchlow on the bike. He knew he had to bring his Honda home and get more data and points, reluctant to try and push past the problems. Crutchlow managed his main goal of finishing the race and earning points, but is adamant he could have done better had there been no issues.
His 11th place finish in Mugello matches his best result of the year when he was 11th in Jerez, doubling his World Championship points. 11th is Crutchlow’s best finish at Mugello in two years, having failed to complete the race in 2015 and 2014. With 10 points Crutchlow is down in 19th position in the World Championship table, an unfortunate reminder of his so far difficult season.
Cal Crutchlow: “It wasn’t too bad in the end, I felt after two or three laps that I had some sort of issue with a part of the bike but in the end I’m just happy to finish. There are no excuses, I finished 11th and I think without the issue I wouldn’t have been too much further up anyway. I got boxed out a little at the start and was unable to pass because of the speed of the bike. I finished though, and I felt there was a need to bring the bike home. We needed information and I did that although I did feel some problems towards the end of the race. I didn’t really feel on the limit at all, but I couldn’t push any more with the small problems I was having. I could do one lap fast, and then one lap not so fast because I was having to adjust things on the bike.”
“Overall I’m happy enough to finish, and if I had been in a group I could have possibly gone quicker, but I was never in a group! I played it quite calm over the first ten laps, managed the situation and made sure I finished.”