Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) will begin the Japanese GP from fifth on the grid at manufacturer Honda’s home race – despite a late incident that saw the Brit slide out in the final minutes. With good pace all weekend, Crutchlow’s P5 also saw the Brno winner qualify as top Independent Rider at Motegi as he looks to make a dent in the frontrunning group and consolidate his P6 in the Championship as the flyaway stint begins.
Cal Crutchlow (P5 - 1'44.402): “Again I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity to get onto the front row, I made a small mistake under braking trying to push to make up for the lack of acceleration and the speed of our bike this weekend. We are doing a good job as a team though, I’m very happy with how we are working and how I’m riding at the moment. I’m looking forward to a good race on Sunday, not only do we need to do a good job for the LCR team but also for Honda and try and help them out in the constructor’s championship if we can. I have to step up a little with Dani Pedrosa being absent. As I said yesterday, we hope that Dani comes back soon, it’s a shame that he’s not here to race this weekend.”