LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow got his first taste of the new 2018 Honda prototype bike on the opening day of close-season testing at Valencia on Tuesday.
Crutchlow put the updated Honda through its paces on a dry and sunny Circuit Ricardo Tormo, although he was more focused on getting accustomed to the new machine than pushing for lap times. Despite that, he still finished tenth on the timesheets – just ahead of Sunday’s race winner Pedrosa – having completed a total of 55 laps on day one.
#35 Crutchlow (10th – 1’31.259)
“A busy day, but a lot of sitting around waiting. We had the new HRC prototype bike and it was good. It was good to have that available to ride, we’re very grateful to HRC to have it – myself, Marc (Marquez) and Dani (Pedrosa) have got one each. We’re going through the motions; I was concentrating on some small initial tests on the bike and there were a lot positives. The adjustments are a little different because there’s a lot of new stuff. We did some good runs, but we were in and out of the pit a little bit with small things we needed to change, but tomorrow’s going to be a bit more of a busy day I think”.
Results day 1 Valencia test
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | VIÑALES, Maverick | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1:30.189 |
| 2 | ZARCO, Johann | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:30.389 |
| 3 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:30.501 |
| 4 | ROSSI, Valentino | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1:30.519 |
| 5 | MILLER, Jack | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1:30.635 |
| 6 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:30.756 |
| 7 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:30.850 |
| 8 | LORENZO, Jorge | Ducati Team | 1:31.059 |
| 9 | ESPARGARO, Pol | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:31.166 |
| 10 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | LCR Honda Castrol | 1:31.259 |
| 11 | PEDROSA, Dani | Repsol Honda Team | 1:31.328 |
| 12 | SMITH, Bradley | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:31.415 |
| 13 | RABAT, Tito | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:31.673 |
| 14 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1:31.721 |
| 15 | REDDING, Scott | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:32.075 |
| 16 | ABRAHAM, Karel | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1:32.445 |
| 17 | NAKAGAMI, Takaaki | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1:32.723 |
| 18 | MORBIDELLI, Franco | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:32.762 |
| 19 | TAKAHASHI, Takumi | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:33.569 |
| 20 | SIMEON, Xavier | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:34.242 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc