Crutchlow back in action at second Sepang test
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16/05/2017
Cal Crutchlow enjoyed a positive start to the second MotoGP test session at the Sepang International Circuit today, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders both finished inside the top 10 on a rain-hit first day.
Crutchlow was fast straight out of the box this morning and a time of 2.02.272 set on only his fifth lap put him in second position. But a slippery surface and track temperatures that soared to over 60 degrees in searing heat meant lap times were considerably slower than those posted at the first Sepang test earlier this month.
Former World Supersport Champion Crutchlow couldn't better his pace of 2.02.272 in a further 23 laps on track, but that personal best was only just over 0.3s away from the top three and left him sixth on the timesheets.
Cal Crutchlow 6th 2.02.272 – 28 laps:
“I'm happy enough with today because all you could do was ride around to the grip that was available. This morning the track condition wasn't good at all. It was greasy and the heat was just making it worse and you can see the lap times are a fair way off what we were doing here only recently. I was 1.5s off my best time from the first test and Pedrosa was abo ut the same. Once I got to my best lap time today I pretty much stayed at that pace for the rest of the day because the grip wasn't there. There were a few crashes and it was obvious that we'd got used to the grip that we had at the last test but it wasn't there and when people started to push they crashed."
