MotoGP Buriram: ‘First lap was dangerous’ - Crutchlow

A wet Thai Grand Prix saw Cal Crutchlow struggle on the WithU Yamaha RNF before claiming 19th at Buriram.

After he equalled the team’s best qualifying position of 2022, Crutchlow lined up 15th on the MotoGP grid before a poor start found him in 20th on lap one. Steady progress saw him improve to 17th and run ahead of championship leader Fabio Quartararo at the halfway stage. However, the latter stages saw him drop back to 19th to meet the flag out of the points for the first time on his return to the premier class.

“I struggled today, Crutchlow acknowledged. “First of all I think it was very dangerous on the first lap, you can’t see anything from the back. The other riders were closing throttle in fifth gear and to me it’s strange when you still have the straight left.

“Anyway, it was a difficult race for Yamaha today, it seem that we all have very similar problems with the tyre pressure and the tyre heating.

“It’s a shame because this weekend in the dry, we had a great pace but our problems were exaggerated in the rain. It was the same problem in the dry but we got away with it in the dry so it was a disappointing day. I think if it was in the dry, we could have had a great race, but honestly speaking the speed of my bike this weekend was not good in the straight compared to Aragon and Motegi, where I was the fastest Yamaha.

“This weekend it was a surprise to not have a fast bike to be competitive in this rain. This is the situation, we have to now look ahead and go for it in Australia and the last two rounds.”