MotoGP

Crutchlow Delighted With Tech 3 Pace At Misano

2 Mins read

Cal Crutchlow paid tribute to his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team after qualifying on the front row for the second race in succession. The Briton was just a tenth slower than Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo and pointed out that his four best sector times would’ve been enough for pole, something that fills him with confidence for the race.

“I am really happy to be on the front row again and I am particularly pleased for my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew because they did a fantastic job in giving me a great bike, despite the lack of time on track. To be honest I felt a bit rusty because after missing the whole of yesterday’s practice with the weather, Brno felt like a long time ago. The start of the session was quite difficult and I was struggling for rear grip. I spoke to Jorge and he said he was also having an issue getting temperature into the tyre but every minute the track was getting better and the grip was improving. I’m happy to be on the front row and I am fast in all parts of the track. If my four best sector times were put together I’d have been in pole position. It is going to be a hard race because nobody has had the chance to properly work on their dry set-up, but I am really looking forward to it. I am feeling really confident after scoring my first podium in Brno and the good thing is we have carried that momentum to here. Hopefully we can put on a good show for all the fans that turned up yesterday and this morning when not a lot was happening on track.”

Teammate Andrea Dovizioso has a tougher race ahead of him after qualifying down in seventh place and the Italian admits the lack of dry practice has made the decision on race set-up a tough one.

“I can’t be satisfied with the work we did when I am only seventh on the grid. We should have done a better job but I am still on the third row and I am convinced I can fight for the podium tomorrow. It is going to be a very difficult race because we are going into the unknown a little bit with so much track time lost because of the weather. It will be a bit of a gamble on the set-up but we did manage to gather a lot of good data this afternoon and I know we will be competitive. Hopefully tomorrow the weather is good and I can avoid any problems at the first two turns, where it is very tight. I need to make a good start and I am looking forward to battling for another podium in front of my home crowd again.”

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