The 2020 RC213V has proven to be a difficult motorcycle. Rookie Alex Marquez from the works team bike achieved the brand’s only podium to date in the wet race at Le Mans.
Crutchlow led his RC213V to 1: 47: 305 minutes in Aragon on Saturday to finish his first front row in MotoGP since last April’s US Grand Prix, while team-mate Takaaki Nakagami finished seventh and Marquez finished eleventh.
Honda riders have ridden the updated Ohlins rear shock, which was first tested at the Misano test in September, though Crutchlow is still unsure of its potential and believes the leap in performance Honda riders have made is more likely is due to “constant driving”.
“I think it’s positive for some riders and less so for others,” said Crutchlow of the suspension component. “I tried Le Mans last weekend and then I tried again this weekend, which they found in the Misano test. But it also has its drawbacks. We are not sure whether we will continue with this or not.
“I’m not sure about the shock [what’s missing]. The problem is, I always use the shock absorber on the not-so-good tire, so I don’t understand if the tire is inferior or the shock-absorber is inferior. But with the new tire it seems to be good. At the moment we are only analyzing what we see on the data.
“Of course, my comment is also crucial, so we need to sit down and discuss more. But I don’t think there is any difference day and night as everyone thinks. It’s not the magic bullet that will make you win or not win.
“I think the package we have anyway was good enough to be strong and we’ll see if we can improve that with shock or other things.”
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Crutchlow’s season was injury-related. A broken wrist banned him from the Spanish GP before complications from arm pump surgery last month forced him out of Misano’s double-headed ball.
He was tenth on his return to Catalonia and was placed on a top six finish at Le Mans last week after qualifying fourth before retiring late. Crutchlow admits his arm is still not 100% but believes his LCR team “did a great job” since last week.
“First of all, it’s nice to be back in the front row. Texas was a long time ago, ”he added. “My team has done a great job since Le Mans. When I came back to Barcelona my arm wasn’t 100%. It’s still not 100% but it’s recovered a bit.
“I felt better at Le Mans and this weekend I felt better again. So it’s nice to get to the front row after a good qualifying at Le Mans. It was a shame about the race because we could have got a good result but we didn’t. “