LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow endured a disappointing day in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at the Twin Ring on Saturday. The Briton had to settle for a place on the fifth row at Motegi after another rain-soaked day at the Japanese circuit. Crutchlow was unable to make further progress and – after ending down in 15th in FP3 – failed to secure a place in Q2 after finishing fifth in Q1, just behind Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales.
#35 Cal Crutchlow (15th – 1’55.952)
“I’m not happy at all today, I’m really unhappy with the grid position. I’m disappointed that I don’t have a good feeling with the bike in the rain at the moment. In the previous years I have ridden in MotoGP, I’ve been strong in the rain, but at the moment we are struggling a lot. It seems we need to improve the package for me to be competitive in the rain. We will have to see what happens tomorrow, it’s going to be a long race and we’ll have to look through the data tonight to try to improve altogether.”
Results Q1 and Q2 combined:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Johann ZARCO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’53.469 |
| 2 | Danilo PETRUCCI | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1’53.787 |
| 3 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’53.903 |
| 4 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’53.947 |
| 5 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team | 1’54.235 |
| 6 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | 1’54.342 |
| 7 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’54.872 |
| 8 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’54.906 |
| 9 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’55.064 |
| 10 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’55.483 |
| 11 | Andrea IANNONE | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’55.617 |
| 12 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’57.786 |
| 13 | Loris BAZ | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’55.862 |
| 14 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’55.916 |
| 15 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | 1’55.952 |
| 16 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1’56.292 |
| 17 | Hector BARBERA | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’56.668 |
| 18 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’56.771 |
| 19 | Tito RABAT | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’56.903 |
| 20 | Karel ABRAHAM | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1’57.144 |
| 21 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’57.157 |
| 22 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1’57.787 |
| 23 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | 1’57.861 |
| 24 | Kohta NOZANE | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2’01.730 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc