MotoGP pre-season testing came to a close at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar on Monday evening, with Cal Crutchlow toughing out 70 laps of the desert track, in spite of the painful arm injuries he sustained on Sunday afternoon.
The LCR Honda Castrol star was forced to sit out the remainder of testing on day two, but made up for it considerably by riding through the pain barrier on the final night to improve his previous best time from the test by one and a half seconds. The three-day Doha test completes the team’s on-track preparations for the up and coming 20-race MotoGP season, with the racing action kicking off at the same venue in less than two weeks’ time. Free practice for the Grand Prix of Qatar begins on Friday the 6th of March ahead of Sunday evening’s opening race at 6pm local time.
#35 Cal Crutchlow – 18th (1’54.830 – lap 61 of 70)
“Today was a very difficult day because of the injuries I suffered in yesterday’s crash. My arm is still very swollen and there is a big haematoma on the elbow. So to do 70 laps today, I’m not sure there are many others who would have been able to do that. My team work really hard, as we all do, but then it’s down to me to tough it out and just get on with the job at hand. Overall, we managed to get through a lot of things this evening, some positive and some negative. We just need to keep working on those negatives by giving HRC all the feedback and information we’ve collected here, so that they can improve the bike for the first race next week.”
Results day 3:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
1 | VIÑALES, Maverick | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1:53.858 |
2 | MORBIDELLI, Franco | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1:53.891 |
3 | RINS, Alex | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:54.068 |
4 | QUARTARARO, Fabio | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1:54.077 |
5 | MILLER, Jack | Pramac Racing | 1:54.105 |
6 | MIR, Joan | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:54.129 |
7 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:54.149 |
8 | NAKAGAMI, Takaaki | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1:54.239 |
9 | BINDER, Brad | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:54.283 |
10 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:54.312 |
11 | BAGNAIA, Francesco | Pramac Racing | 1:54.326 |
12 | ROSSI, Valentino | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1:54.332 |
13 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:54.432 |
14 | ESPARGARO, Pol | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:54.623 |
15 | RABAT, Tito | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:54.674 |
16 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Ducati Team | 1:54.752 |
17 | ZARCO, Johann | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:54.760 |
18 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1:54.830 |
19 | OLIVEIRA, Miguel | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1:55.008 |
20 | LECUONA, Iker | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1:55.301 |
21 | MARQUEZ, Alex | Repsol Honda Team | 1:55.519 |
22 | SMITH, Bradley | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:55.916 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc