On a soggy afternoon in the Netherlands, Cal Crutchlow put in a superb display to equal his best qualifying position of the season, and will start Sunday’s TT Assen from the second row of the grid in fifth. The British rider pushed hard in the morning’s third free practice session to secure a position in the final qualifying shootout, and looked to have solid race pace in the dry conditions. However, rain fell as the riders took to the track for their final free practice, and Crutchlow suffered a small crash as he got accustomed to the now damp track. The LCR Honda man dusted himself down in time for qualifying, where he put in a sterling performance to set a best lap of 1’46.568 and give him an excellent chance of challenging for the podium positions in the race.

Cal Crutchlow:
“I’m pleased enough to be on the second row, at least we’re not burried deep like normal qualifying sessions of late. I should have pitted and got a new tyre though, everybody in front of me came in for one. We are struggling in the wet on the Honda a bit, a few of us crashed with the front because we can’t generate enough heat in it. We have understeer with the bike in general, and in those corners we have it, we keep crashing as Marc (Marquez) and Dani (Pedrosa) showed too. Even if mixed conditions are forecast, we still want a dry race. It’s really slick in the wet conditions, and we need to look tonight as a team and with Honda to see what we can come up with for tomorrow.”

Results Q1 + Q2 combined:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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