In Brno, the weekend began well for Cal Crutchlow: first, he signed a new contract with Tech3 for the 2013 season and, encouraged by that, secured second time in the trials. He was therefore in a particularly good position for a fine performance on Sunday 26 August. And that's what he gave us: while, in the lead of the race, Lorenzo et Pedrosa were fighting it out as never before, to the final benefit of the latter, Crutchlow took 3rd place from the start and kept it all the way through to the arrival. After finishing 4th on two occasions since the beginning of the season, Crutchlow climbed a podium for the first time in MotoGP, thereby terminating a twelve year podium-less period for Great Britain. Behind, Andrea Dovizioso tried unsuccessfully to catch up with his teammate and had to be finally satisfied with 4th place.
With this double top-4 achievement, Tech3 is continuing a brilliant season. 'The weekend was perfect for me' said Crutchlow, 'because I signed a new contract with Monster Yamaha Tech3 and then clinched my best qualifying. (...) The race wasn't easy, I was all alone most of the time and it was a real test of concentration.'
Dovizioso galantly recognised the young 28 year old rider's talent: 'I congratulate him on this first podium. (...) Throughout the race I tried to reduce the gap separating us but didn't manage. He gave a superb race.' For Hervé Poncharal, manager of the Motul supported team, 'I'm very happy for Cal because he has made tremendous progress since 2011. He has worked very hard for this podium and really deserves it.'
The last part of the season is about to start but nothing is written in stone: next meet on 16 September in Italy at the Misano circuit.
Standings
01// Jorge Lorenzo - Yamaha - 245 pts
02// Dani Pedrosa - Honda - 232 pts
03// Casey Stoner - Honda - 186 pts
04// Andrea Dovizioso - Yamaha Tech3 - 150 pts - Motul
05// Cal Crutchlow - Yamaha Tech3 - 122 pts - Motul
Photo credit: Stan Perec
