Cal Crutchlow endured another frustrating day at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday as he eventually qualified in 18thposition for the Grand Prix of Styria. The LCR Honda CASTROL rider has struggled to make progress with the 2020 R213V machine over the past few rounds and faces another uphill battle on Sunday as he starts from the sixth row of the grid.
Having made a step forward on his overnight time in FP3, Crutchlow still finished in 16th spot in the combined times despite being only six tenths off the pace. But he then had to settle for eighth in an ultra-competitive Q2 session featuring the likes of Danilo Petrucci, Johann Zarco and Valentino Rossi. The Briton knows he now needs a fast start in Sunday’s race to force his way into the battle for the leading places.
Cal Crutchlow – 18th (1’24.401)
“Today was a difficult day again. I hope to be able to improve the situation tonight, essentially I feel a little bit better than I did yesterday, but not in the fast lap unfortunately. I wasn’t really able to make a good lap in the qualifying and it seems we are still going round in circles with the bike a little bit. But hopefully we can make a good start tomorrow and try and battle with some guys that are ahead of us in the qualification. We will work hard tonight as a team and go for it tomorrow.”
Q1 & Q2 Combined:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’23.580 |
| 2 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’23.602 |
| 3 | Johann ZARCO | Esponsorama Racing | 1’23.632 |
| 4 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’23.678 |
| 5 | Jack MILLER | Pramac Racing | 1’23.700 |
| 6 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’23.778 |
| 7 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’23.782 |
| 8 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’23.797 |
| 9 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’23.849 |
| 10 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’23.866 |
| 11 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’24.021 |
| 12 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati Team | 1’24.174 |
| 13 | Iker LECUONA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’23.928 |
| 14 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’23.932 |
| 15 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’24.127 |
| 16 | Michele PIRRO | Pramac Racing | 1’24.273 |
| 17 | Alex MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’24.370 |
| 18 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’24.401 |
| 19 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’24.416 |
| 20 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’24.429 |
| 21 | Stefan BRADL | Repsol Honda Team | 1’24.667 |
| 22 | Tito RABAT | Esponsorama Racing | 1’24.916 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc