Monster Yamaha Tech3‘s Cal Crutchlow claimed another seasons best 6th place in qualifying for tomorrows Spanish Grand Prix. The Brit rider set a time of 1:43.501 despite struggling for grip on the side of his tyres under cornering. Sitting in 4th for most of the session, Crutchlow slipped down the timesheets in the final 15 minutes of the session.
Speaking afterwards, Crutchlow commented, “I’m happy enough to be on the second row of the grid again because this is another track I’ve come to with zero experience and I’ve shown my raw speed and proved a few people wrong. Spies was 5th here last year and I was trying to get that one place higher up to equal it, but I can’t be disappointed with sixth on the grid.”
“All credit to the Team because they have done a fantastic job again. We’ve still got some work to do to improve the side grip but I’m confident we can make the set-up better for the race. As soon as I open the throttle I’m struggling for grip, so if we can improve in that area we should be on course for a strong result. As I get faster and faster I have to keep changing my riding style but I think I can have an interesting race if I can get away from the start. It’s a long run down to the first corner here so I need a good start to avoid getting bunched up at the beginning.” he said.
Speaking of the absent Colin Edwards, Cal said, “It’s a shame Colin is not here because I can learn lot from him on the data that helps me out a lot, particularly with lines. I heard he sent the Team a text saying he wanted to see me ‘kick some ass’, so hopefully I can do that for him tomorrow.”
Colin Edwards underwent surgery on his collarbone today, and team boss Herve Poncharal said, “Colin had his operation this morning in Barcelona and I am pleased to report that it was a routine procedure and everything went very well. Although he was in quite a lot of pain yesterday, the only positive is that the injury was a clean break without any complications, so we are confident the recovery will be a quick process and we will see Colin back on track very soon. We are still obviously very sorry for what happened to Colin but he is already back to being the Colin we know and love, laughing and joking with staff at the hospital”
