Cal Crutchlow believes he had the pace to challenge for a front row grid position at Aragon no matter what the weather brings. Conditions were horrible on Friday with Crutchlow ending up seventh quickest but with some set-up tweaks, the Briton is sure he can take a step forward in competitiveness.
“I am pleased with my pace in the full wet conditions as I was right near the top and confident I could have finished inside the top three. I had a small problem with the steering damper right at the end and without that I am sure I would have been much higher than seventh. We have to take another step tomorrow if the conditions are the same but I am confident I can be very competitive in the wet. The set-up of the bike is good and with some improvements if we have more rain tomorrow, I’ll be looking to be back on the front row again. I hope the rest of the weekend though is dry and the fans can see a good race.”
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Andrea Dovizioso was fifth fastest and also feels there is more pace in the bike. The Italian admits he would prefer a dry track on Saturday though to give him the best possible chance on race day.
“I am happy with the set-up of the bike because there are no obvious problems to fix, although I’d like to improve the rear traction. I felt good when I tried to take some risks and push at the end of the session. The bike reacted how I wanted, so I am confident I have some margin to improve. I am close to the top and it is a good start to the weekend, even if we did lose another session this morning. The only thing I hope for the rest of the weekend is some dry track time before the race. I don’t want to arrive in the race with no dry time to work on the set-up because then you are not fully prepared, so I hope whatever the conditions are tomorrow will be the same on Sunday.”