Cal Crutchlow more than made up for a disappointing result after a tough weekend at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar where the MotoGP class got the 2017 season officially underway at round one under the floodlights. Onto the Termos de Rio Hondo for the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina, Crutchlow finished on the podium in third, as the top independent team rider and the highest placed Honda in the pack.

Crutchlow made significant improvements over the weekend

Crutchlow crashed out twice during the race in Qatar and his determination to make up for it and do well in Argentina shone through the whole time. He started off down in 14th during Free Practice 1 and ended the opening day of the meeting in seventh making a significant improvement already. He had a fantastic run in Free Practice 3 that saw him finish on top of the timesheets and guaranteeing on the front four rows of the grid as he automatically progressed through to Qualifying 2.

It started to rain and Crutchlow could only manage second, his time was just 0.276 seconds slower than that of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda). On to Qualifying 2 and Crutchlow managed to score third on the grid. Marquez was on pole, and when completing his pole position lap, Karel Abraham (Pull & Bear Aspar Team) was following him and managed to take second on the grid.

Great start for Crutchlow at the Termos de Rio Hondo

Come race day it was back to dry conditions and in the morning warm-up session Crutchlow was third quickest behind Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) and Marquez in second. He got a fantastic start in the race and after a couple of corners was in second behind Marquez as they passed through the twists and turns of the Termos de Rio Hondo with a hard compound Michelin Power Slick, and a medium rear.

By the third lap, Crutchlow lost a position to Vinales who passed him. But then, he gained another position back when Marquez came off at turn two of lap four and was forced to call it a day. Crutchlow then had to focus on fending off Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) who was hoping to do well on his 350th Grand Prix start.

Rossi passes Cruthclow at turn five

Crutchlow manage to keep the Italian at bay until he made an attempt first at turn one on the 16th lap, which Crutchlow was able to prevent from being successful when he ‘shut the door’ on him. But then four turns later at turn five, Rossi was able to make his way past. Crutchlow, being the feisty Brit he is, immediately bit back but was unable to recover his lost position. Crutchlow did what he could to retaliate but in the end he had to settle for third on the podium; collecting 16 championship points.

Crutchlow honestly happy with podium after Qatar disaster

The British rider confirmed that it felt “nice to take a podium place for the LCR Honda team after what happened in Qatar” saying that he was “very happy to take a third place to be honest”. He spoke of how he “had to manage the race from the very start” as he revealed he “had a warning light on the dash”. He explained that he “didn’t panic” when Vinales passed him and instead he “just decided to follow and see if [he] could control the situation”.

Warning light appeared on the dash of his Honda

Speaking of when Rossi caught him up, Crutchlow again found that when he “decided to push again” that the “light came back on” which meant he was forced to “slow down and try to manage the rest of the race as best [he] could”. When Rossi overtook him Crutchlow noticed that he “seemed to have a bit more grip” and again confirmed that the “Honda bike is quite difficult to ride at the moment”.

Still, Crutchlow felt that they “did a good job to manage things and bring the bike home in a podium position”. He admitted that “Qatar was a disaster” for him and the team as he felt “strong there and believed [he] could get a good result”. But still, he felt that “to get a podium in the first two races is good” and he was “pleased for the team” to achieve the podium so soon into the season.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Danielle Overend
Passionate about everything motorcycles and Moto GP!