Not fully satisfied with his second place in qualifying, Cal Crutchlow did not have a great first lap in the race. Falling back to fourth position, the British driver then took six laps to recover his qualifying place before inheriting, five laps later, the leadership of the race following the fall of Marc Marquez.
Having just got off his private Honda RC213-V, the LCR driver spoke to the site's microphone MotoGP.com
Congratulations! You win the second Grand Prix of your career. Did you have any doubts when you saw Marquez crash with the same hard front tire as you?
Cal Crutchlow: “Yes, I was terrified! I braked really weakly in certain corners throughout the race. I knew it was critical until the end of the race. You know, I fell two years ago, when I had a gap of ten seconds behind me. I was pretty scared about it, to be honest. I didn't want to make the same mistake but I knew I had to keep pushing so as not to lose heat in the front tire. I was pretty confident I could catch Marc, but when he crashed I wondered what I should do. So I continued and kept the same pace but the last 10 or 12 laps, I didn't really attack; I just made sure to keep the temperature in the front tire. I attacked when the sun was hidden, because I knew we had to keep the temperature in the front tire. When the sun was out, it was a little more relaxed. I know it sounds completely strange, but it's Phillip Island and you never know what can happen. I'm really grateful to the LCR Honda team, they did a really good job this weekend. I'm very happy with my team, they did a great job all weekend. I was actually quite confident that I could catch Marc in the race, but Honda did a really good job with the bike, there's no doubt about that. We can now look forward to the last two races and then we'll see what happens for next year. »
Photo credit: motogp.com
