Crutchlow's 1st day thoughts in Phillip Island: "It seemed better than in Malaysia but it is a completely different track and there aren’t many hard braking points and that’s where I was losing a lot of time in Sepang. The grip of the track here is good and it feels a lot better than what I expected. We can take some positives from that but the stuff that Bridgestone gave us was tough to do. Valentino and I were testing the same tyres and we both scrapped one of the three because it wasn’t worth going out for the second run of six laps. I tested three new tyres and the normal race tyre from last year and I clarified immediately that was better. Last year’s race tyre was the one that lasted the most and was the most consistent. I did 27-laps on it this morning and I did a 30.3 on the last lap. I don’t know if it is a different track condition or temperature but you would think it would be worse in hotter temperatures. The track is six months older and to be honest it is not working too bad."

How does the Ducati feel here?
Our bike seems to be working better. It still does the same things but a bit less than Sepang. I have a bit less spinning because I have a bit more grip and a bit less wheelie because the acceleration is not so hard.”

Turning tough on this track
“The turning is still a weak point of the bike but the braking and tipping in is a lot better than last year’s bike. We can see where we have gained a fair bit of time compared to last year’s bike but carrying the angle and getting the bike to turn is still quite difficult. As the tyre goes off it becomes more difficult to ride, but not as bad as Malaysia for me.”

Reply · Report Post