Cal Crutchlow made an excellent start to proceedings at the Australian Grand Prix, setting the fourth fastest time on the first day of practice on Phillip Island - scene of his second grand prix victory one year ago.

The LCR Honda man was tenth fastest after the chilly morning practice, but had chosen not to run the softer rear tyre employed by many of his rivals. He then improved his lap time in the equally cool afternoon session by over a second, to sit a tenth outside of the best lap of the day. With mixed weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, Crutchlow is primed to take a run at the top spots in qualifying on Saturday.


#35 Cal Crutchlow – 4th (1’29.329)

“At the end of the day we are happy enough with our performance, but we still need to improve the setting of the bike overnight. I didn’t feel great with the tyre today, but on the last run we seemed to make a big jump and some decent improvement.

“I look forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow in qualifying and also on Sunday. As things stand I think it’s going to be a big battle, and I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.”