Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

MotoGP testing: Cal Crutchlow fastest in final pre-season running

Cal Crutchlow completed MotoGP pre-season testing at the top of the times as he emerged fastest from another rain-limited scramble on the final afternoon at Jerez

What was forecast to be the best day of the weather-disrupted test ultimately delivered another rain-hit morning before the track dried towards the end of the afternoon.

Crutchlow judged the drying circuit best and set a 1m39.511s on his Tech 3 Yamaha, edging out factory rider and Sunday pacesetter Valentino Rossi by 0.244 seconds.

Stefan Bradl enjoyed his best performance of the winter as he got his LCR Honda up to third, demoting champion Jorge Lorenzo and denying Yamaha a top-three sweep.

Marc Marquez was fifth and the sole works Honda rider in action.

Troubled by the neck pain that has afflicted him at times in recent weeks and feeling he had nothing more to learn in the wet, Dani Pedrosa decided to head home early.

Pramac's Ben Spies did not run either, while Alvaro Bautista sat the session out to rest the knee and finger injuries he sustained in his Sunday crash.

Top Ducati rider Andrea Iannone was within 0.8s of the pace in sixth, followed by works men Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso, who had warned on Sunday not to take the bike's apparent improvement too seriously given the weather.

Randy de Puniet returned to the head of the CRT pack in 10th for Aspar, pushing Crutchlow's team-mate Bradley Smith outside the top 10. But the young Briton had led the way for a while when the track began to dry.

Ducati test rider Michele Pirro was quickest of the few riders who took part in the morning's wet running.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time        Gap       Laps
 1.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m39.511s             30
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m39.735s   + 0.224s  32
 3.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m39.975s   + 0.464s  26
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m40.105s   + 0.594s  42
 5.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m40.130s   + 0.619s  34
 6.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         1m40.331s   + 0.820s  25
 7.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                1m40.370s   + 0.859s  42
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m40.516s   + 1.005s  30
 9.  Michele Pirro     Ducati                1m40.881s   + 1.370s  44
10.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         1m40.971s   + 1.460s  24
11.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m41.134s   + 1.623s  56
12.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         1m41.218s   + 1.707s  39
13.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m41.443s   + 1.932s  44
14.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m41.772s   + 2.261s  41
15.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda Suter-BMW        1m41.791s   + 2.280s  49
16.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       1m41.864s   + 2.353s  36
17.  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           1m42.363s   + 2.852s  25
18.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda Suter-BMW        1m42.428s   + 2.917s  18
19.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           1m42.470s   + 2.959s  36
20.  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     1m43.525s   + 4.014s  41
21.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m56.281s  + 16.770s  14
22.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m56.897s  + 17.386s   5

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Jerez MotoGP test: Valentino Rossi says test pace a turning point
Next article MotoGP testing: Cal Crutchlow thinks Honda still team to beat

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe