Cal Crutchlow of RNF Yamaha claims he “must be too competitive” since he was “pissed off” to finish Friday’s MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix practise in 17th place.
After making his return at Aragon the week before, the Yamaha test racer and three-time MotoGP championship winner will take Andrea Dovizioso’s place at RNF for the remaining races of the 2022 season.
Crutchlow rode the most of Friday’s FP1 session inside the top 10 and has current track experience at Motegi thanks to his testing of the 2023 Yamaha.
He was about six tenths slower than Ducati’s Jack Miller in his most recent time attack run, and with Saturday’s FP2 session expected to be cancelled, he will likely start Q1.
“I must be too competitive, because I’m pissed off I’m not in the top 10, really pissed off,” Crutchlow said.
“I felt good but the last tyre I had was really bad, and I never had anywhere near the same grip as I had in the first tyre.
“The first tyre I felt too good, and then I thought ‘Ok, I’ve got a good banker and I know I can take a tenth a sector’.
“One tenth per sector puts me in. And it just didn’t happen. I had the perfect marker, Jack [Miller] let me follow him and I left him at half a second because I didn’t want to be too close for the last run, but I had a bad tyre.
“So, I couldn’t even exit the corner. I could enter the corner not too bad,
“I just couldn’t exit. I said to Jack after, actually… he never hit one apex, and he still made the lap. And I said ‘if it takes that commitment, I’m not doing it’ because he was so wide, he was blowing the corners left, right and centre and he still made the lap.”
Crutchlow said he’s never seen the Japanese manufacturer “put in so much effort,” but he did not comment on the distinctions between the 2023 Yamaha package and the one he has been testing at Motegi this year.
“I can’t tell you,” he replied when asked what the differences were between the two bikes.
“For sure it’s faster in the straight, the one I was riding a few weeks ago. But Yamaha hasn’t re-designed their bike for 2023.
“It looks the same and they’ve done a good job. As we know, they have a new chassis and the guys are using it also.
“That was an improvement in two areas, but for me not an improvement in one area that was quite critical.
“But the others guys like it in different areas, which is positive, they’re making good steps. So, never have I seen Yamaha put in so much effort.
“So, that’s a good thing. But the bike’s fast, the new one is fast and first and foremost that’s the main the thing.”
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Yamaha, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Jack Miller, MOTO, Moto racing, Motocross, MotoGP, MotoGP Japanese GP
