The 2019 flyaway races got off to a hot and humid start on Friday as free practice for the Grand Prix of Thailand commenced at the Chang International Circuit. LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow – who is sporting the oil manufacturer’s green colour on his bike this weekend – finished the day in 13th on the timesheets as he worked hard to find the best settings for his RC213V.

With humidity making life difficult on the track, the Briton ended FP1 down in 18th place. However, he improved by over a second in the afternoon’s FP2 session to close in on the top 10 and is hopeful of making further progress ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.

Cal Crutchlow – 13th - (1’31.344 – lap 18 of 20)

“Today was not a fantastic day, we tried all the rear tyres and all the front tyres today, so it was a case of making sure we got some information from the tyres. I struggled a little bit with the setting of the bike, but we hope to improve that tomorrow. Tonight, we’ll work very hard on making a plan for tomorrow’s sessions and we’ll see if we can close the gap to the guys at the front.”