LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow says he pushed for his fast MotoGP qualifying lap at Silverstone just at the right time this afternoon but didn’t think he was pushing too hard even though he opened up a gap of just under three seconds on the pack.

Crutchlow watched in the driving rain as mate Jack Miller fell in front of him and then got his head down to take top spot in the final qualifying session just before the rain began to fall even more heavily but his run wasn’t without its moments.

“I didn't honestly believe I was pushing. In the first sector I was not so fast and I had a little bit of a moment, then the rest of the lap I just tried to keep the lap together and thought, ‘Tthe next lap I'll push'. But on the next lap when I started to push I nearly crashed at turn one,” said Crutchlow.

“But then I looked at the laptime and saw that everyone else at that time was quite a lot slower, so I thought that maybe I was taking some risks. I cruised around for the rest thinking that if somebody starts to come a little bit faster, then I'll go, but I knew with the rain starting to come heavier it was a little bit more difficult.

“I saw Jack crash in front of me and I was quite worried because he has some injury. The on the big screen I saw Marc crash at turn one and they were the two places where I'd had a moment as well, so I thought if I had to push again it would be quite dangerous. I took the risk at probably the right time.”

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