LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow produced a brave ride to finish in 13th place in qualifying for Sunday’s Andalusian Grand Prix. Despite undergoing wrist surgery earlier in the week, the Briton only narrowly missed out on a spot in Q2 on Saturday and will now start from the fifth row in the second of back-to-back races at the Jerez Circuit in southern Spain.
Crutchlow made some small improvements in the morning’s FP3 session to end up in 17th position before taking 20th in FP4. But he showed all of his fighting spirit in Q1 as he battled into third, finishing just over a tenth behind Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli who took the second and final spot in Q2. Crutchlow remains upbeat ahead of Sunday’s event but admits race management will be key as he rides through the pain barrier once again.
Cal Crutchlow – 13th (1’37.644)
“Obviously today was going to be a difficult day trying to qualify for the grid in the MotoGP race, but I want to thank the LCR Honda CASTROL team and Honda for giving me a good enough bike to try and do some good laps today. In the free practices I didn’t feel fantastic with the bike and also in qualifying, but I think that was also me riding the bike with some hesitation. But hopefully we can start the race tomorrow and have a good ride. It’s important to see our position in the race and manage it well as 25 laps round here is not going to be easy, but we’ll try our best for our team, sponsors and manufacturer.”
Results Q1 & Q2 combined:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’37.007 |
| 2 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’37.102 |
| 3 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Pramac Racing | 1’37.176 |
| 4 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’37.342 |
| 5 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’37.344 |
| 6 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’37.412 |
| 7 | Jack MILLER | Pramac Racing | 1’37.423 |
| 8 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’37.464 |
| 9 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’37.596 |
| 10 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’37.600 |
| 11 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati Team | 1’37.906 |
| 12 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’40.277 |
| 13 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’37.644 |
| 14 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’37.656 |
| 15 | Johann ZARCO | Hublot Reale Avintia | 1’37.761 |
| 16 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’37.885 |
| 17 | Iker LECUONA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’38.206 |
| 18 | Tito RABAT | Hublot Reale Avintia | 1’38.211 |
| 19 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’38.310 |
| 20 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’38.601 |
| 21 | Alex MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’38.648 |
| 22 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | NTS |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc