The British rookie got to grips with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 machine in his first Official MotoGP Test at Valencia, and is looking forward to further developing his feeling for the bike ahead of the 2011 season.

Cal Crutchlow concluded his first Official MotoGP Test at Valencia on Wednesday having completed 133 laps on the M1 of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team across both days at Valencia, as his transfer to the premier class got fully underway.

“It’s been good. We have progressively bettered our lap time and I did a good one after 35/36 laps on the tyres, which was my fastest,” said Crutchlow, whose fastest effort of 1’33.483 on Wednesday placed him 13th on the timesheet and within 1.5s of leader Casey Stoner.


The focus for the 25 year-old Brit of course remains on adapting to the M1, and he continued: “It’s a completely different machine to what I’m used to and we’re looking at trying to get in as many laps as possible. That’s the main focus right now. The more I do the more comfortable I feel and I’m enjoying it. We’ve been working on adapting the bike to my riding style and my feel – at the moment it’s not my setting. When we go to Sepang we’ll make a lot of adjustments to suit me, but this Test has just been about riding round and making sure I get some laps under my belt.”

Asked for his main observations from the Test, Crutchlow said: “The bike is doing what I expected it to do, to be honest. The side grip’s not perfect on it, and if it gets out of shape a little bit it gets really out of shape! There are a lot of good areas such as corner entry, and the corner speed is fantastic. The bike is quite smooth compared to riding a superbike.”

“I’ve been told off about things like braking for too long and using the rear brake on the straight!” he added. “All the bad habits I have from riding a production bike all these years I have to get rid of on this GP bike. It’s going to be a long learning curve but I’m looking forward to it!”

The Test also provided the 2009 supersport champion with his first opportunity to work with his new crew, led by Daniele Romagnoli, and he said: “The team have been fantastic and have been working hard for me. They are listening to my comments most of which they agree with, and if we can continue that relationship I think it will benefit us all.”