Cal Crutchlow was pleased with the progress he was able to make on the first day of free practice at the Czech Grand Prix on Friday. After being hampered by a wrist injury at Jerez last time out, the LCR Honda CASTROL rider cut a far more comfortable and controlled figure at Brno today and made good headway on the set-up of his bike ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
The Briton posted his fastest lap of the day in the morning’s FP1 session as he finished inside the top 10. Although he was unable to improve on the time in FP2, that was largely down to his decision to prioritise further work on his bike’s settings over a fast lap as he ended in 18th spot. Although that leaves him with work to do in FP3 to secure automatic progression to Q2, Crutchlow insisted he was satisfied with the team’s efforts.
Cal Crutchlow – 17th (1’57.753)
“Today went quite well and I was pleased with the work we did. FP1 went quite well and I was satisfied with the work we did there as getting comfortable back on the bike was difficult after Jerez. I had an arm pump in my right arm and then we decided in the afternoon to change the handlebar position a little bit and that didn’t really work, but then we made another change – I went back to my normal handlebars – and it seemed to work better with me in a different position on the bike. I was able to control it quite well and I felt good over the FP2 session. We didn’t take advantage of a new tyre today as I thought it was better to continue to work than put on a tyre for the fast lap, but overall I was pleased with how the day went.”
Results FP2:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’56.502 |
| 2 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’56.509 |
| 3 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’56.550 |
| 4 | Johann ZARCO | Esponsorama Racing | 1’56.583 |
| 5 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’56.668 |
| 6 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’56.876 |
| 7 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’57.041 |
| 8 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’57.059 |
| 9 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’57.073 |
| 10 | Jack MILLER | Pramac Racing | 1’57.109 |
| 11 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’57.279 |
| 12 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’57.290 |
| 13 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’57.354 |
| 14 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati Team | 1’57.620 |
| 15 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’57.635 |
| 16 | Alex MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’57.688 |
| 17 | Tito RABAT | Esponsorama Racing | 1’57.777 |
| 18 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’57.865 |
| 19 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’58.161 |
| 20 | Iker LECUONA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’58.378 |
| 21 | Stefan BRADL | Repsol Honda Team | 1’58.424 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc