Ducati’s Cal Crutchlow finds himself in ‘unfamiliar territory’ at Qatar’s MotoGP round as he will have to take part in the first qualifying run tomorrow in order to make it into the second session and fight for a top ten slot.

The British rider couldn’t find a good feeling with the GP14 today in the desert and crashed in the third session but got up to so slightly faster. Even so, the former World Supersport Champion is some 1.2s off the pace while team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished fourth and only half a second in arrears.

“It was a disappointing day and I’m not very happy at all. We didn’t find a good setting with the bike, and even though we made a lot of changes from the first session, it felt more or less the same. I also had a crash in the third session, but the positive thing is that we got up and went a little bit faster with the second bike,” said Crutchlow.

“Unfortunately now we have to take part in Q1 tomorrow, and that’s unfamiliar territory for me because I’ve been used to qualifying close to the front for the last two years. Things are difficult at the moment, but there’s no doubt the team are working hard to sort things out.”