Buoyant Crutchlow maintains superb form

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 star Cal Crutchlow ended the final day of the second Sepang MotoGP test just 0.1s behind factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo on his satellite YZR-M1.

Crutchlow, who admits he is no fan of the Malaysian circuit, was fifth fastest overall as he maintains his promising pre-season form on the 1000cc Yamaha.

“I am really happy because the weather obviously played a big part the first two days but we were able to get some dry track time today and make some good progress with the bike. I like the new engine from Yamaha and credit to them because they have been working hard and the improvement bodes well for the start of the season,” he said.

“I'm happy with my lap time because this is not my favourite track at all and I am fifth fastest and very close to the top three. A major positive too is that I am very consistent and this is something that I have improved from last year.

“This gives me a lot of confidence and encouragement and I'm really enjoying riding the 1000cc bike. I did a long run of 12 laps and the new tyres were sliding around quite a bit,” he added.

“It made it very physical but quite good and it looks like tyre management is going to be more important than ever. The bike is working well at Sepang but now I'm curious to see how it performs in Jerez.

“That's a completely different track and the weather will be much cooler, so this will give us another indication of the potential of the bike.”