Cal Crutchlow will start the Italian Grand Prix from the fifth row of the grid after a difficult day in scorching conditions at Mugello in Tuscany. The LCR Honda man had been one of the favourites for pole position at the Italian soil after holding top spot on the timesheets overnight, but unfortunately a spill on his out lap in the morning practice conditioned the rest of his day.

The Brit was forced to go through the preliminary Q1 qualifying session, and as track temperatures reached well in excess of 50°C, the greasy surface made fast laps hard to come by. His final lap of 1’47.220 would have been good enough for row three in the qualifying final, however he wasn’t in the top two places and so starts Sunday’s GP from the fifth row of the grid in 13th.

Nonetheless, the 31 year-old is confident of a solid performance in the race, with his pace during practice meaning he feels capable of bringing some joy to the whole LCR Honda Team and the vast number of sponsors in attendance at the event. 


#35 Cal Crutchlow – 13th – 1’47.220

“I managed to drop 12 places in one day, it was a bad day, but that happens. Yesterday was good and today not so much. I never got the best out of the bike after what happened in the morning. It was completely my own fault this morning, I went out with a used tyre and it seemed warm enough because I had pushed in all the left-hand corners already on the lap. I thought it was enough to heat the tyre, but although went through it slower than yesterday, I crashed”

“That hindered us all day, because the second bike was completely different to the first and it wasn’t great. That meant I missed out on Q2, and never got through Q1. I made a mistake, had a big shake in the last sector and lost four-tenths to Zarco there. Nobody is to blame, and we start 13th, but my pace is much better than that for the race. We will be battling for top positions tomorrow and I think top five is possible.”