It was a disappointing night for LCR Honda on the opening night of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship, as Cal Crutchlow crashed out on the seventh lap of the Grand Prix of Qatar.

It had been a tough weekend for the Brit as he and his crew tried to work their way around the electronics issue, but despite positive steps forward during Saturday’s qualifying, they blighted his efforts once more in Sunday’s race.

The team will analyse the vital data they have accumulated over the first weekend of a long, 18-round championship, with the hope they uncover something before the second event of the season in Argentina in two weeks’ time.

#35 Cal Crutchlow - DNF

“I’m extremely disappointed, but that’s an understatement to be honest. We had some electronic problems during the weekend and again in the race. The bike didn’t have a clue where we were on the circuit. It seemed to be reading the wrong sectors, so in the last sector it thought I was in the first sector and so on. This was why I crashed”.

“I’m disappointed for my team because we all worked hard all weekend and I felt we could have got in amongst the front five that got away, but I just couldn’t accelerate onto the straight. I don’t know why it was, but we will investigate later and hope to be back fast in Argentina.”

Lucio Cecchinello (LCR Honda Team Principal): 

“It's a shame for Cal's crash tonight as he was running at a strong pace and improving each lap, closing in on Vinales and Pedrosa. However, we are still having some issues with the new electronics and this caused Cal's crash. We are working very hard with HRC to overcome these issues and find a direction. Now we look ahead to Argentina where Cal had a great race last year and scored a podium! Thanks to all our sponsors for their great support as always”.