Cal Crutchlow started out with a strong pace for the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team. In FP1 he missed out on the top 10 by just a whisker of 0.039 seconds. In the second session of the day, the Englishman experimented with tyres and settings of the bike and came close to a huge improvement towards the end. After two sectors he was on the way to make it into the top 5, but unfortunately had a nasty highside on his fast lap, which ruined his chances of further improvements.

#35 Cal Crutchlow – P12 –

“Obviously today was not an ideal day, ending the day with X-ray of my right ankle that I badly broke some years ago. At the moment, I have some severe pain in my ankle but the X-ray came back negative, this can also be swelling on the ankle at the moment but it seems a little bit different from the place I broke it before, we have to continue and try to rest, ice the ankle and see how it is. I felt very good today on the bike in FP1 when we were pushing for the lap time. I made one mistake in the lap which would have meant I would have been in the top 10. And this afternoon I was going for the lap time, I was pushing because I felt good with the bike, unfortunately I had too much angle, and that’s what happens when you ride a MotoGP bike and you’re pushing. Honestly speaking, I felt good and I feel that my pace is really good and I would be able to fight this weekend for a good position again. The problem is right now, we will have to see the extent of the injuries because I have some injuries on my elbows, back and most of my body but we will see. Overall, the team did a good job and I’m happy with the way things are going. It was a shame to crash at the end of the session but we will see what will happen tomorrow.”

Results FP2:

Source: notogp.com, rnfracing.com