Cal Crutchlow says he will head to Assen in three weeks’ time with renewed optimism after topping the timesheets in the post-Catalunya GP test. The Briton ended Monday’s running as the quickest rider ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Maverick Vinales and although he doesn’t feel too many conclusions can be drawn from his position, Crutchlow was pleased to end a tough weekend for the sport on a high.
“Obviously we are happy to be quickest overall, it’s nice to be back on top of the timesheet, even though it’s a Monday and it doesn’t mean anything really. We will take some positives from the day though, and we have worked so well together as a team which means we will go to Assen optimistic.”
“We used the hard tyre for much of the day, because that would be the race tyre here whatever, and we made some setting changes that we had been wanting to try like softening the front end of the bike, which helped it decelerate quite well. There was some electronic stuff to test too, because that takes so long – about 20 to 30 minutes every time you want to make a decent electronic change.”
It was a largely experimental day for the LCR Honda rider with different tyre options and new winglets tried out and Crutchlow was encouraged by his findings.
“We tried the new Michelin front in the morning when it was cooler, and it was positive in some areas and not so good in others, but this is the information they require. Then we tried two new rears towards the end of the day. As you can see from the lap time, they were good. We also tried the ‘over-the-top’ wing for Honda to give them some information. I think maybe it’s a little better.”
