Britain’s Cal Crutchlow has spent the last two days of MotoGP practice trying everything he can to find some rear grip with the harder-construction Michelin tyres but like the rest of the Honda men - Marc Marquez aside - it is eluding him.
Crutchlow revealed today he is going into corners at full lean with the rear brake on as hard as he can as the search for traction continues, and some of the experimentation has paid off with a top-ten position in qualifying.
“Things were a little better out there today. Ish. But it’s difficult out there at the minute, everyone is really close, there’s seven guys within two tenths. We went one way with the bike, then the opposite way. One clearly worked and in qualifying I was able to do a good enough job, I felt. Just behind Dani at a circuit where he has had some fantastic results. Cruising around, you may finish in the top five as someone’s front tyre might not be working, someone might not finish, it’s going to be a bit of a lottery again,” said Crutchlow, speaking at the track.
“We don’t have very good grip and with these construction tyres at the minute it is difficult to try and find it. We’re using the rear brake like you wouldn’t believe to just get some load on the rear of the bike to push the tyre into the floor. Corner entry, 60° lean angle, rear brake on harder than you can press the front brake just searching for grip.”
Crutchlow says he has been unfortunate with crashes at the first three rounds and also that he needs to wmulate Marquez who has changed his riding style to try and ape the Yamaha cornering style which is enabling the Spaniard to keep pace with Lorenzo and Rossi.
“I still believe we have good pace. Here has been more difficult in the moment. You have to take more swooping lines with the Michelins and Marc has just figured it out. All my crashes have been on the front as we are still pushing because we are not carrying the corner speed. Marc is. My asset over the years has been corner speed, when I rode the Ducati they told me I would never corner at that speed but I did all year. It was braking where I was losing.
“Now it’s the complete opposite. I’ve learned to ride that Honda of last year, where you are braking a lot. You need to find the balance, brake strong and well, and carry corner speed. I think we can work better on Monday when we have some time. At the moment Marc has figured it out, I haven’t but we’re not doing a bad job.”