Cal Crutchlow was delighted with his pace over the course of the Sepang test after finishing third fastest on the final day. The Briton was just two tenths slower than pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo and added that his time came despite mistakes and less-than-favourable track conditions during the morning.
The LCR Honda rider, who tested a new engine and aerodynamics package this week, was also encouraged by his performance over longer runs.
“It was a positive day today, we were really pleased with the way we worked over the three days and we had another good one today. We pushed for the lap time early in the day, maybe not at the right moment because the track condition was not great and I made a few mistakes on my lap, so overall we’re quite pleased with the outcome to be so fast in Malaysia which is not normally a great track for me. We also did a long run today. I started the long run with six laps already on the rear tyre and then I completed another 15 laps. The rear tyre dropped a bit after ten laps of the long run and I also wasn’t on my favoured front tyre. So we didn’t push for a lap time at the end of the day as we’d already completed our programme.”
Team-mate Takaaki Nakagami was fourteenth overall and finished the week as the fastest rookie. The Japanese rider admitted he had hoped for more on his qualifying simulation but remains satisfied ahead of the next test in Thailand.
“It was the last day today and we made quite good progress, I’m really happy to finish like this. My condition is quite good and I’m really happy with the lap time, I just missed out on a 59 lap by one tenth, but it was still a good day. Our race simulation was also quite good and this is the main priority for us, to try and understand race conditions. I had a good feeling on the bike and we made a good step from yesterday, so I’m pleased and looking forward to the next test in Thailand.”
