Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow has said a couple of mistakes made on fast laps during MotoGP qualifying at Le Mans this afternoon cost the opportunity for a front-row start in France tomorrow.

The British rider tried a new setup in the timed session which didn't work out and he finished in the middle of row two but only half a second slower than pole man Dani Pedrosa on the works Honda.

“I can't be disappointed to have qualified in fifth position but I think I could have challenged for pole position had things gone my way. I made a couple of small mistakes on my fast laps right at the end and that cost me a little bit of time. And we didn't have the best set-up with the bike," said Crutchlow.

"We made some modifications for qualifying but with the conditions wet and damp at the start, we couldn't tell if it was an improvement and in hindsight it would have been better to stay with the setting I ran this morning. We are not sure what is in store with the weather tomorrow but I am happy with the job we did today and once again we are very close to the front and I'm really looking forward to a good fight in the race. Andrea did a good job today and it is great to have both Tech 3 Yamaha riders competing for the front row. Hopefully we can both have a strong result for Tech 3 and Monster tomorrow.”