Cal Crutchlow will make his last series of stints as a Grand Prix rider for Yamaha in Aragon. This after the two Austrian events and his national race at Silverstone where he did not make any sparks. Distant qualifications, an anonymous classification under the checkered flag, no points scored... If we had any doubt about the fact that the Englishman had turned the page in his career, we are convinced. However, he is doing his work as a tester and therefore remains involved in the M1 project which will receive reinforcement from a certain Andrea Dovzioso from Misano. However, Crutchlow warns: before being operational, Dovi will have to forget his powerful Ducati...
Crutchlow replaced Morbidely injured in Petronas then he stood next to Quarterly in the official team and in the corner left free by Casa Particular in Viñales. In Aragon, for the next round of the MotoGP calendar, he should end his series of Grands Prix as temporary showman. Morbidely, in Misano, will return to business with the official Yamaha suit and he will be accompanied by Dovizioso which will branch off towards the Petronas stand.
It's on his former teammate at Tech3 but also at Ducati that the Englishman made a comment. At first, he is happy for him, but he warns that 35 years ago he will get back behind the handlebars of an M1 which he will have to understand as it is, which implies that it is radically different from his old Desmosedici… “ I think it will be very different from what he is used to, which is having a lot of power on the straights »Assures Crutchlow.
« Dovi is a great driver and a great guy, I think and hope he will do well. The good thing is that he will participate in some of the tests that we will do next year. We both work the same way, we are different drivers, but we understand very well what works and what doesn't. He adds.
Crutchlow: “he will feel a huge difference compared to what he had”
The British pilot nevertheless has no doubts about the capabilities ofAndrea Dovizioso to find his way on the M1, as long as he is able to accept the lack of speed and acceleration he will experience on the straights compared to the overwhelming power of the V4 he experienced at Ducati. A situation that he will have to accept all the more as he will be riding a Yamaha Spec-B from last year: “ I think he will do well, but he will feel a huge difference from what he had. He rode a Ducati for a long time and the advantage he had on that bike, he certainly won't have here. It won't be easy for him, that's for sure. We'll see how it goes. I will work with him as I do with all Yamaha riders, and we will be able to understand his situation when he starts racing ».
It will be recalled that the official announcement of this installation of Dovizioso in the Yamaha clan in MotoGP still hasn't fallen but Lynn Jarvis assured him and now Cal Crutchlow confirms it. The Italian thus comes out of his sabbatical year by joining one of the teams he was considering to return to competition. An opportunity which materialized with the falling out between the manufacturer of Iwata and its pilot Casa Particular in Viñales who joined from a factory Aprilia who until then hoped to seduce… Dovizioso. The latter, it is said, signed a contract with 2 million euros annually at stake, with a 2022 package close to that of the factory drivers in a team reorganized by Razlan Razali without the support of Petronas.
