Cal Crutchlow unfortunately made a mistake and thus missed the opportunity to finish in eighth place in the Argentine Grand Prix after having made a spectacular comeback after having fallen at the start of the event when he rolled on a humidity stain still present on the Termas de Río Hondo route.
The LCR Honda team was thus able to measure all the efforts made by its British driver who was constantly moving up the ranking hierarchy by gaining several positions despite a delicate start to the race. A GP which was reduced to 20 laps following the decision of the tire manufacturer Michelin who ordered a pit stop mid-race to ensure the safety of the drivers.
Despite his fall in the first curve of the Argentinian track after only a few minutes, the native of Coventry then moved at a similar pace to that of the leaders in the second part of the event. The pace he set then allowed him to occupy eighth place for a few moments until the last lap. His hopes of picking up valuable points with an honorable result were dashed when he hit a white line at the third corner.
Cal and the LCR Honda team will now put this disappointment behind them and head directly to Austin, Texas, where the Grand Prix of the Americas will be contested, the first tests of which begin on Friday.
Cal Crutchlow #35 – fall
“I am obviously extremely disappointed for the team today. I gave the best of myself and after a disappointing start, I gradually began to gain a few places. Then I was blinded by Lorenzo entering the first corner before driving over a wet patch and making a mistake. I managed to get back on my machine to start the race again and line up laps at a more than decent pace which allowed me to gradually catch up with the riders who were ahead of me before changing bikes.”
“After this obligatory pit stop, I really did my best to finish the event in the best possible situation despite some difficulties with the front tire. My feeling on the handlebars was still satisfactory and I managed to progress at a pace which would have potentially allowed us to get on the podium today. After overtaking Bradley Smith to gain eighth place, I unfortunately hit a white line on the last lap before crashing again.”
“The disappointment is obviously great and the positive thing we can take from this race is that we are able to be competitive. We now need to learn how to manage the situation better.”
Lucio Cecchinello (LCR Honda team manager): “Unfortunately in our sport we can experience disappointing Sundays like today. We really lacked success but we must now focus all our attention on the next event. Cal is undoubtedly a fast rider and when we analyze the time sheets we can see that after his first crash he was riding faster than Dani (Pedrosa) who got on the third step of the podium.”
“This clearly shows that we are competitive enough to stay in contact with the leading group. I sincerely believe that we have the potential to regularly appear in the Top 5-6, or even better. That’s what’s going to push us to work even harder to provide Cal with all the support it needs.”
