MotoGP: Fastest Crutchlow 'nowhere near 100%'

Cal Crutchlow says he wasn’t pushing 100% on his way to the fastest lap of the day at Silverstone despite it being quicker than the race lap record.

The British star’s time of 2’00.897 was more than a second quicker than Dani Pedrosa’s 2013 lap record, but he insists he could have gone quicker had he pushed harder and not been out on a used front tyre.

Quick in both of the day’s sessions, placing third quickest behind Maverick Vinales and Jorge Lorenzo this morning, Crutchlow looks to be in a strong position ahead of Sunday’s race but acknowledges the fight for the podium will be tough with Marquez, Vinales and Rossi on the pace.

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“I feel good,” Crutchlow said. “My bike is working well but tomorrow’s another day and it could easily not be as good as today. Nothing is ever easy, it’s never a dream with everything going perfectly. If I can make it happen, I will! Everything went quite well today. I felt good in FP1 with the soft front tyre which is unusual for me but then this afternoon the harder front was too soft as the track temperature went up.

“We put the soft tyre in the end just in case something happened in the morning, so I pushed a little but it was nowhere near 100%. I had a really used front tyre, I nearly went down in the last corner which would have been big! I was happy enough with the day.

“It will be a tough race, there are a few guys who could be on the podium. Maverick and Valentino are quick and so is Marc so there are three guys who could take the podium, but we had a good scrap last year so I’ll be up for another!” 

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