Cal Crutchlow’s ninth place finish in the Dutch round of the World Championship came as a relief following two non-finishes, although the Englishman is aware that his struggles with Ducati Team are likely to continue next time out in Germany.

Having passed through Q1 qualifying on Friday to seal a best Ducati qualifying position to date – fifth on the grid – Crutchlow would have to deal with his first wet race on-board the red bike since joining the outfit at the start of the season.

“I feel we should have had a better chance of doing a better job,” the Englishman would admit. “I had no grip in the race, for some reason, and lost too much time at the start of the race. In the middle we were not too bad but at the end it was too bad, so we had the same problem we had had all weekend. I didn’t have a very good setting because I had never ridden the bike in the rain; we never had anything to go on and the rear tyre felt like ice for a few laps until we started to make some progress, then we came in to change the tyres.

“We finished the race: that was the aim this weekend, no matter what. We were way too slow, but we finished the race. It was a good job for the team for Andrea (Dovizioso) to be on the podium. Congratulations to him and I think it is well deserved again by the team because they are working so hard.”

Looking ahead to the Sachsenring, however, the Coventry-born rider is fully aware of the situation and braced for another damage limitation exercise.

“I think it will understeer a lot because the corners are long and round, which is the worst type of corner for the Ducati,” he concluded.

Last year in Germany, then riding for Monster Yamaha Tech3, Crutchlow qualified second on the grid to Marc Marquez and would match that position in the race.



.