In a change to the traditional schedule at the TT Assen, Friday saw free practice for the MotoGP class, with qualifying set to take place on Saturday and racing on Sunday for the first time since the race started in 1925. Cal Crutchlow lies in 13th position overnight, but that belied his pace during the afternoon practice session, which saw him amongst thetop five for much of the 45 minutes. A late low-side spill in the famous Strubben corner meant that he was unable to better his lap-time in the final stages as others were able to, although he was still less than 0.9 of a second behind top spot. Cal and the LCR Honda Team face an anxious night hoping for a dry morning practice to give him a decent chance of making it straight through to the qualifying final.

Cal Crutchlow:
“I felt really good with the bike today, however there was a lot of chatter in some corners and different vibrations in other areas. Unfortunately, I crashed on my last run. I made a stupid mistake at turn five at a really slow speed. I reckon I went faster through the corner on my pushbike yesterday. However, it put me outside of the top ten and as it is set to rain overnight I might get consigned to going through the Q1 session. I made my fastest lap with the hard tyre, then in the my last run I equalled that time with a bent motorcycle. I had managed to get back up and get in another two laps with the crashed bike because I knew others would have the soft tyre in and start going faster. That’s what they did and it means I’m disappointed to be out of the top ten. I was on a fast run at the end as well, but came up behind a couple of riders who were cruising. That meant I lost the lap. It’s not an excuse though, I should easily be in Q2, and there’s a chance to do it in the morning, but if it rains all night that will be hard.”

Results FP2:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc, calcrutchlow35.nl