Cal Crutchlow made a positive start to the San Marino GP at the Misano circuit on Friday, ending the day sixth fastest after two free practice sessions. Riding with a cast on his damaged left index finger, the British rider had been unsure about how he would find the challenge of pushing the Custom branded factory RC213V to its limits, but those fears were quickly allayed as he set the fourth fastest time of the morning session.

The LCR Honda man continued to churn out fast laps in the afternoon practice and, despite a late spill, ended up the day in sixth overall, but just three-tenths behind the fastest rider of the day, Danilo Petrucci. Having improved his time by 0.6 seconds from the morning Crutchlow was crucially inside the top ten and hopeful of a good qualifying day on Saturday.


#35 Cal Crutchlow – 6th (1’33.545)

“I was very unfortunate to crash this afternoon, I went out on the hard front tyre just as Marc Marquez had come back in to report that it wasn’t the ideal tyre for the moment, and that’s when I went down straight away. It was a little disappointing because we have had good pace all day considering my finger problems. I felt good and had the rhythm straight off this morning. We were making good steps forward with the bike and we were able to put in some very good times with old tyres.

“As regards the finger, well it’s still attached, which is a good thing! Seriously though, it’s no real problem although it is very uncomfortable because I can’t hold the handlebar with it properly, but I’m not feeling any pain.”