Cal Crutchlow admits he is still unable to get the best out of his Honda RC213V over a single lap after three days of testing at Sepang. The Briton has found life difficult on new tyres all week and puts his eleventh place down to those problems. Despite that, Crutchlow is happy with his performance over long runs and will now focus on solving his short run struggles in the second Sepang test.
“I’m relatively happy with today, although I’m not that pleased with the final lap time because we didn’t manage to get in a fast lap. We’ll need to start to work in that area soon though, because on old, used race tyres we are very fast and working in a really good way with the team. At the moment I’m still not quite familiar enough with the bike to push extra hard and take advantage with the newer rubber; I’m just not comfortable enough to do that yet. However I do feel comfortable on used tyres, and just like yesterday we have made some solid improvements over the course of the day and we can definitely come back to the next test here at Sepang and be competitive.”
CWM-LCR Honda teammate Jack Miller finished the week in 20th spot, three seconds off Marc Marquez’s record pace, and expects the experience gained this week to benefit him when he returns in a fortnight’s time.
“Today we improved our pace in the morning, managing to put in a different tyre at the right time and we improved our lap time by a second. Everyone else improved too, but we are making steps forward. We made some real progress, particularly in the last three runs out on the track, when we started to work with the electronics including the traction control and anti-wheelie settings. It was good, so I’m really looking forward to the next test and working some more on the electronics and aids to make the lap times come that little bit easier. For now though, I’m happy. It’s been a positive test for me and the crew. I’ve picked up lots more experience with the Bridgestone tyres and I think that it will get even better for the next test here.”
