Estoril MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow narrowly misses top six

Cal Crutchlow was less than two-tenths-of-a-second away from claiming a stunning maiden top six grid position for tomorrow’s Portuguese MotoGP race at the Estoril circuit.

A lap of 1.38.190 elevated the impressive British rider into sixth position with less than two minutes of this afternoon’s qualifying session remaining.

But the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider was bumped down to eighth, even though he managed to lap marginally faster with a 1.38.189.

The 2009 World Supersport champion ended in eighth position to equal his best premier class qualifying result as for the third consecutive race he qualified higher than nine-times world champion Valentino Rossi.

The Coventry rider, who was fighting for the podium in a rain-hit Jerez race earlier this month, said: “I don’t think I could have gone any faster or put in any extra effort than I did. And if I can keep coming to circuits that I’ve never seen and qualifying inside the top ten, I’m going to be really happy.”

“At one point it looked like I might get my first second row but to be in between Colin and Valentino on the grid for my first race here, I’ve got to be really happy. I pretty much lost a session too because I only did a coupe of laps in the wet this morning.”

“It wasn’t worth taking any big risks and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to finish last. It is not easy on this track and I’m finding it quite physical. I’m still having some issues with arm pump in my right arm and to compensate I’m using my left arm a lot and that is stressing the shoulder I had an operation on during the winter.”

“There’s no real time to relax and when you’re braking from 200mph to 30mph, it is really physically demanding on the arms and shoulders. I’m really looking forward to the race now and hopefully I can reward the team with a good result after all their effort again this weekend. My aim for tomorrow will be to finish in the top ten and get some more experience of the bike under my belt.”