Cal Crutchlow was left frustrated by a flag infringement as free practice for the Europa Grand Prix got underway in Valencia. The LCR Honda Castrol rider looked to have done enough to secure a place in the top-10 after the opening day at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, but was penalised by race direction meaning he now sits in 12th place overnight. With rain complicating matters for the MotoGP riders in FP1, the Briton still managed to get some progressive work done despite finishing down in 18th. On a drying surface in FP2, Crutchlow appeared to have broken into the top 10, but saw his best lap chalked off after failing to spot a yellow flag. With a mixed forecast for Saturday, it means the 34-year-old could now struggle to secure automatic qualification for Q2.

Cal Crutchlow – 12th (1’33.463)
“Today was a strange day on the track in Valencia because of the conditions. In the rain I didn’t feel too bad, even though the lap time didn’t show that and I believe we made some improvements in the session. If tomorrow is wet as well, we’ll be a lot faster. I didn’t really want to take any risks in the morning session, in the afternoon I rode well, I pushed well, but unfortunately race direction took my fastest lap time away due to a flag infringement. I couldn’t see the yellow flag and it seems completely impossible to see the yellow flag from the position I was in on the bike. So we’ll have to see the situation there, because if tomorrow morning is wet, we’ll have to do Q1 instead of being directly through to Q2 which I would have been, so it’s a little bit disappointing.”

Results FP2:

Pos	Rider	Team	Fastest lap
1	Jack MILLER	Pramac Racing	1’32.528
2	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1’32.620
3	Franco MORBIDELLI	Petronas Yamaha SRT	1’32.804
4	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	1’32.866
5	Pol ESPARGARO	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1’32.952
6	Alex RINS	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	1’33.157
7	Brad BINDER	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1’33.259
8	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati Team	1’33.292
9	Fabio QUARTARARO	Petronas Yamaha SRT	1’33.337
10	Joan MIR	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	1’33.405
11	Maverick VIÑALES	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	1’33.410
12	Cal CRUTCHLOW	LCR Honda CASTROL	1’33.463
13	Miguel OLIVEIRA	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	1’33.483
14	Stefan BRADL	Repsol Honda Team	1’33.504
15	Francesco BAGNAIA	Pramac Racing	1’33.515
16	Alex MARQUEZ	Repsol Honda Team	1’33.570
17	Johann ZARCO	Esponsorama Racing	1’33.739
18	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati Team	1’33.775
19	Garrett GERLOFF	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	1’34.107
20	Lorenzo SAVADORI	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1’35.661
21	Tito RABAT	Esponsorama Racing	1’36.690

Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc