LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow rode through the pain barrier to claim a place on the second row for the Czech GP, qualifiying in fifth position despite a crash into the trackside air-fence after skidding on fluid from another bike in FP3. The LCR rider had an initial X-ray at the circuit that proved inconclusive and opted to continue riding, then taking P5 on the grid. Crutchlow headed straight for hospital after qualifying to get a definitive verdict on a possible vertebrae injury and was given good news as a scan revealed no fracture, meaning he will be able to line up in Sunday’s race.
Cal Crutchlow, P5: “I had to qualify, I didn’t feel anything too bad when I was riding. Of course, I had some pain from this morning’s crash, but as we know it was an unfortunate situation as myself and Marc (Marquez) were the next two along when there was something on the track and that meant I crashed at more than 150 kilometres an hour. I’m sorry for the team as Marc’s bike had two scratches on it and ours barely had two wheels left on it after the crash! I feel good, in fact I’ve felt great all weekend so far. Yesterday we had some problems with the set up, but I felt we just needed to work in a different area and today I thought we did a really good job.”
results Q1 & Q2 combined:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’54.981 |
| 2 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’55.073 |
| 3 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | 1’55.119 |
| 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’55.441 |
| 5 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | 1’55.489 |
| 6 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team | 1’55.552 |
| 7 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’55.663 |
| 8 | Danilo PETRUCCI | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1’55.738 |
| 9 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1’56.027 |
| 10 | Johann ZARCO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’56.075 |
| 11 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’56.355 |
| 12 | Loris BAZ | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’56.624 |
| 13 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’56.460 |
| 14 | Jonas FOLGER | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’56.540 |
| 15 | Jack MILLER | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’56.543 |
| 16 | Hector BARBERA | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’56.685 |
| 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1’56.786 |
| 18 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’57.034 |
| 19 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’57.042 |
| 20 | Andrea IANNONE | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’57.245 |
| 21 | Tito RABAT | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’57.288 |
| 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’57.465 |
| 23 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1’57.517 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc