Today marked the halfway point of the pre-season testing programme for the 2017 MotoGP World Championship, and it’s a case of so far, so good for the LCR Honda Team. With Cal Crutchlow having yet another productive day at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, things are already looking much rosier on board his Honda RC213V than one year ago.

Crutchlow put in several decent long runs on Thursday, and with his lap-times proving consistently quick he ended the day as third fastest on track overall. The British racer eventually stopped the clock in a best time of 1’29.325, nearly three-quarters of a second quicker than on Wednesday, and without pushing for an all-out fast lap.

Having already completed three days of tests in Malaysia, and now two more in Australia, there are now four more testing days left before the season proper, including tomorrow’s final session at the cliff-top venue in Victoria. 


#35 Cal Crutchlow – 3rd (1’29.325 – lap 28 of 80)

“Today was a more productive day for the LCR Honda Team. Yesterday there were a few teething problems perhaps, but today we seemed to be able to keep a good pace throughout. We are happy with the pace because it is consistent. We tried lots of different things with the bike, some of which were good and some not so much. We need to work on those areas still, but I think that the Honda in general seems to be improving, and that’s good for us.”

“We need to continue to give the factory the right information to improve, but I didn’t even go out to set one ‘fast’ lap time today, but if we had I reckon we could have been very competitive. That’s something we can do another day however, because in the meantime I’m happy enough with our consistency. The tyre consistency was good and the bike is generally working well too, and even if the feeling isn’t perfect just yet, the speed is there, so that’s positive.”