LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow declared himself satisfied after the opening day of free practice for this weekend’s Czech Republic Grand Prix. In sweltering conditions at Brno, the Briton – who won at this circuit in 2016 – finished Friday down in 14th position, but insisted he had made positive strides as track temperatures reached up to 50 degrees Celsius.

Crutchlow posted the 11th fastest time during FP1, but then slipped back three spots in the afternoon session. However, the LCR man was still only around a second behind Honda factory colleague Dani Pedrosa who put up Friday’s quickest lap. Crutchlow insisted afterwards he was happy with the progress his team had made and is hopeful of significant progress in Saturday’s qualifying.

#35 Cal Crutchlow (14th – 1’57.014)

“Overall, we’re in a sticky situation because the potential is not bad at all. We worked through the programme that I had set for the day, the end result was quite good and I was satisfied with what we did. Hopefully if we can continue the work we did today and progress tomorrow I’ll be happy. I have a good pace and a good rhythm and am satisfied with today.

“The heat is not great because, as we know, the Honda is a very physical bike to ride. I felt fine on the bike today, I feel in good shape and competitive, but when you’re in a battle with eight riders you know about it – it can get hot”.