Cal Crutchlow finished in agony and in eighth place, behind his teammate Nakagami, Italian Grand Prix where he was forced to act as an extra. The Englishman is experiencing tire problems at the end of the course and this stage at Mugello made him experience the same scenario for the third time in a row: A good start, then we fall into line. Suddenly, the LCR Honda driver is grumpy…
During the first laps of the Italian Grand Prix, Crutchlow seemed to be able to take the lead in operations. But when Danilo Petrucci, Marc Márquez, Andrea Dovizioso et Alex Rins, then picked up the pace, he couldn't keep up.
« This is the third consecutive race during which I have been forced to leave the leading group » comments the Englishman. “ I didn't feel good on the bike and I couldn't use the front tire as I would have liked. When I was riding in the group, the air pressure in the front tire was increasing, so I decided to pace myself and hang back for a second. After 14 laps my rear tire went bad, after which I could barely get angle in the corners and I could barely steer the bike. A piece of rubber from the rear tire even came off ».
« But this should not be an excuse for the poor performance, it is also due to poor steering behavior and lack of feel on the front tire. That's why I can't brake as much as I want. Changing direction is difficult, the bike is extremely physically exhausting. There was a lack of grip at the rear, the team, Honda and Michelin know this and are working to determine the cause. " plague Crutchlow.
Crutchlow started the season very well in Qatar with 3rd place. Since then, no Honda driver other than championship leader Marquez has taken the podium. “ I can't just copy Marc » continues Crutchlow. " He has his own style and rides a motorcycle better than me, period. I lack the sensations to do better. If everyone ran the same way, we would cross the finish line every race within 0,000 seconds. I do my best, this time for 8th place because of things that are not in my hands. Either way, I wouldn't have won the race, but I could have done much better. But I'm definitely not going home from here with a smile on my face ».
Italian Grand Prix Mugello MotoGP J3: classification
