By Dean AdamsThis just in:
LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow signed off the 2017 MotoGP World Championship with a battling eighth place at the Valencia Grand Prix. Having started from back on the sixth row of the grid, the Briton fought valiantly throughout to secure a place inside the top ten in a thrilling race which ultimately saw Honda’s Marc Marquez claim his fourth world title and his HRC factory team-mate Dani Pedrosa take race victory on the day.
Having posted the tenth fastest time in the morning warm-up session, Crutchlow made good progress once the race was underway at the tight Circuit Ricardo Tormo. However, the 32-year-old ran out of time to try and launch an attack on the leading groups and had to settle for eighth position – a result which saw him finish ninth overall in the World Championship standings.
Crutchlow was pleased to finish the season with a positive performance, but is already aiming to improve again in the 2018 campaign.
Lucio Cecchinello (Team Principal): “We have just finished another exciting season marked by very good results as the fantastic 3rd place in Argentina, 4th places in Austin, Silverstone and Assen, 5th places in Le Mans, Brno and Phillip Island. Cal and the LCR Team end this season 9th overall (3rd Independent Team) and I want to express my deepest gratitude to everybody for supporting us. Now I can not wait to start the new season with Cal and Taka”.
Cal Crutchlow – 8th
(9th overall in the world standing)
“I started way too far back, it’s as simple as that, but obviously we have to be happy with a solid enough result considering. To be in the top ten I thought would be good enough, because starting 16th at a track like this is always difficult. We made some good passes and I rode a good race the last ten laps, I was really able to push, but I just ran out of time to get the guys ahead. If I’d started just a little bit ahead, I think I could have finished at the front of the group with (Alex) Rins. Overall, I think we had a good race.
“I suppose the season has been average, we’ve had some great races, some fourths and fifths along the way, many fourths, but we’ve also had some bad races where I haven’t finished that I should have finished, whether it be my fault or another fault. But we’re happy enough and now we have to go into next year positive. I want to thank Lucio and the whole crew for their excellent job during this season and of course all our partners for supporting us in bad times and good times”.
