The second official pre-season testing session for the 2017 MotoGP World Championship began at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia today. It was, of course, the venue for Cal Crutchlow’s second Grand Prix victory of 2016 and fond memories of that glorious October day were rekindled as the LCR Honda Team made the long journey to southern Victoria.

Conditions were thankfully very different to those experienced during the Australian Grand Prix last year, with blue skies and comfortable temperatures throughout the day. As such, Crutchlow had the opportunity to complete 61 laps of the flowing coastal track, stopping the clock in a best time of 1’30.065.

That gave the Briton the fifth fastest time of the day, and set him and the team up well for the remaining two test days in Australia. 


#35 Cal Crutchlow – 5th (1’30.065 – lap 61 of 61)

“It wasn’t too bad a day’s testing today. We had a lot of small things that we needed to fix on the bike, and that meant lots of short runs in and out of the pit complex, which cost us a bit of time, but overall I’m pleased with our pace. We are using the newer spec engine again in Australia, and it is taking a little bit of getting used to for all the riders at the moment, but we are happy with Honda’s work and I’m happy with the way the team worked today”.

“We now have another two days of testing left, where we hope we can improve the package we have even further. We had some more things we wanted to try today but didn’t manage to get done, however I felt good riding the bike and felt at ease. We know what I and the team are capable of doing around this circuit, and I feel that if we had the race again tomorrow we would be in a similar position. I’m happy with that, but we still need to work hard because I still think we can have a better feeling with this bike.”