Cal Crutchlow has finished his period as interim driver at Yamaha in Aragon and, in summary, although he undoubtedly provided information to Yamaha on his M1, he will not have brought the slightest point to his employer. On Motorland, the Englishman still showed his advantage during the free practice sessions while achieving a decent qualifying. But in the race, he did no better than sixteenth place, which is nevertheless one better than his last three seventeenth places. It must also be said that he had a turbulent start…
It is with the enthusiasm of the automatically designated that Cal Crutchlow made the last four Grands Prix for a factory Yamaha which found itself without sufficient numbers of pilots after the injury of Morbidely and the break with Casa Particular in Viñales. The test pilot therefore made the bridge until Misano, which will be the next step in the calendar, and which will allow us to see the returns of Morbidely, but with a new official combination, and Dovizioso as a teammate Valentino Rossi who is completing his final services before going to enjoy a deserved retirement.
A period of transition that the team director, Massimo Meregalli summarized as follows: “ fortunately we can return to normal next week in Misano, where we are normally competitive. We want to make a strong comeback there ". THE " fortunately » betrays a relief to see Crutchlow sent back to his mission as tester. A feeling undoubtedly shared by the person concerned, who never hid, during this return imposed by circumstances, that he had turned the page on his period as a competitor and that above all he tasted sweetness of his home.
But how did this last freelance work go? Aragon ? To listen Crutchlow, the race was eventful to say the least… It all started with a meeting with Alex Marquez in the first round: “ my machine was damaged after that ", has explained Crutchlow. " I had a really good start and pace to finish in the top 10. However, I went off the track and made contact on the way back. That's why I fell back to 20th place ».
Cal Crutchlow: “I enjoyed the race and that’s the main thing”
This was not the only meeting with a rival. Later, Crutchlow stumbled upon Luca marini. “ Because of this duel, I lost two seconds on the group in front of me. Overall we struggled, although the pace was good. Overall it was a good base, because in two weeks I will test again for Yamaha here at MotorLand Aragón » specifies the Englishman who evaluates his performance thus: “ I enjoyed the race and that's the main thing. The goal was to gather information for Yamaha and that's what I did ».
Meregalli concludes: “ he did not start the race he wanted. There was contact with other drivers and he also lost time fighting with Marini, but overall he was doing well. He got into a solid rhythm and was really close to securing a championship point ". Strongly Misano for the start of a new cycle at Yamaha ...
MotoGP Aragon J3: ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
