Cal Crutchlow finished in 17th position in the Grand Prix of Styria after another action-packed race at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday. The LCR Honda CASTROL rider had been in the points places prior to a red flag with 12 laps remaining, but was edged out following the restart which came about when Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales was forced to bail out at the turn one following brake failure.

Having qualified in 17th, the Briton looked more confident in the morning warm-up session when he was 13th fastest overall. However, he was unable to make the headway he wanted in either the first or second races and eventually missed out on the points to compound a frustrating weekend. With a two-week break ahead, Crutchlow is determined to ensure he’ll be more competitive for the next round in Misano.


Cal Crutchlow – 17th

“Today was essentially what we expected from the race. I qualified 17th and finished 17th, so not the greatest day. I wanted to improve the bike from yesterday and it seems that we were not able to particularly. I felt better in the first part of the race than the second part, which was probably the rear tyre choice – I used the medium rear tyre in the first race and felt a little bit better than with the soft rear tyre. In the second part, the bike was moving around a lot during acceleration and corner entry. I tried to stay with the group, but was unable to and we need to continue to work with my team and study the data from these last races going into Misano, by which time we hope to have solved some of our problems. The team and HRC are working hard for this and we look forward to going to Misano in two weekends’ time.”