With the world championship to be decided on Sunday Cal Crutchlow discussed how he is approaching the race and the role that he may have in the outcome of the championship.
The Englishman, riding for the last time on a Yamaha before moving to Ducati, admitted that he has been given instructions by Yamaha, “to go as fast as possible and try and beat Marquez!” Having not finished on the rostrum since the German Grand Prix that will be a major challenge for Crutchlow but the extra motivation of ending his tenure with Tech3 and a track that should suit the Yamaha could put him right in the middle of the title fight.
When asked for his thoughts on the Valencia track Crutchlow said:
“It’s gotten a lot better since they resurfaced the track,” said the Englishman. “There used to be good parts and slippy parts and it would change from lap to lap but it seems to have good grip now which will suit the Yamaha. But if the temperature goes up it will suit the Yamaha. I don’t think that it will be roasting and normally we look at 26C air temperature as being perfect for the Yamaha. We don’t want it much cooler than that or much hotter than it.
“I don’t mind this track it’s just difficult to pass here. There’s enough corners to pass on but you can never get a run on anyone and it’s not like you can just suddenly say that ‘I’ll go 10 kmp/h faster through this corner.’ It just doesn’t work; there’s no run off and you can’t really make a mistake and get it back.”
With Marquez leading the championship by 13 points Crutchlow feels that the only way that he can help Yamaha is to ride the race as a normal race and try and get the most from his package rather than worrying unduly about playing a role in the championship:
“We’ve got clear instructions from Yamaha to go as fast as possible and try and beat Marquez! First and foremost I’m looking after myself and then we’ll see what happens. Lorenzo is going to be fast anyway and he can only win the race and then look at it from behind. We need to be aware of the situation that’s for sure.”
When asked for his thoughts on the championship Crutchlow said that the victor doesn’t matter to him but that he felt that Marquez, a rookie, deserves the title after a stellar campaign:
“I think that Marc deserves the title. It doesn’t matter to me who wins but I believe that Marc deserves it. In his first year in MotoGP what he’s done means he deserves it. If it gets taken away from him for some reason I’ll look at it that it was taken away from him by someone else’s mistake. He’d be in a much more comfortable position if he finished in Australia.”
StephenEnglish.ie 