Crutchlow strengthens the PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team for the next three races
Cal Crutchlow will represent the recovered Franco Morbidelli at the GPs of Styria, Austria and Great Britain
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team welcomes Cal Crutchlow to replace Franco Morbidelli in the Malaysian roster as the Italian continues his recovery from left knee surgery.
Crutchlow will take part in the two Austrian Grands Prix in Spielberg and the BritishGP in Silverstone – his home race.
Crutchlow is no stranger to Yamaha MotoGP machines after starting his premier class career with the Japanese brand in 2011 – spending three seasons aboard the Yamaha – and is now the official test and development rider at the plant.
Razlan Razali, Team Principal, PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
After examining all of the options, it was a joint decision between Yamaha and us to ask Cal Crutchlow to represent Franco while he recovered from the surgery. Cal is a credible and experienced rider who is currently a test rider for Yamaha. As an independent team, we can really do something here to help Yamaha. Cal will be able to accumulate a few good miles on our M1, which should help him in his testing and development work for Yamaha. Cal will replace Franco for the next three races and we don’t have any real goals for him in terms of results. We will do everything we can to support him and make sure that he feels comfortable in the team. He already knows some of the key people on the team, which helps, and I’m sure he’s up to the challenge.
Cal Crutchlow, PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
It’s great to be racing with Yamaha as the official test rider again this year and to be able to step in if necessary is good for all parties. I’m looking forward to racing for PETRONAS Yamaha SRT in the three Grands Prix. Obviously it’s not the best of circumstances and I wish Franco a good recovery, I hope he comes back strong after knee surgery. I’m sure he will because he has ridden fantastic over the past two years.
I think it’s difficult to set goals for these three races and it will be more about understanding the bike as I’ve only had a few riding days this year. The good thing will be that I can compare the bikes and collect a lot of data for Yamaha. It’s a bit like being thrown into the deep end as this is a very competitive MotoGP class, but I’m really looking forward to it and it will be good to be on the grid again.
I’m looking forward to meeting the team in Austria, even if there will be some familiar faces for me, as Wilco Zeelenberg was my team manager in Supersport in 2009 and I even competed against Johan Stigefelt a few years ago, so it will be a pleasure its to be with them again.