Qatar GP – Crutchlow (3rd): "We didn’t know if I would come back to MotoGP"

The 2019 Qatar GP Medal of Merit goes to Cal Crutchlow, third in his first race since his big crash in Australia last year. Enough to relieve the Honda-LCR rider, whose ankle injuries made him fear the worst this winter… Debriefing.

Cal Crutchlow, Honda-LCR Castrol (6th in qualifying and 3rd in race) : "It’s great to come back to racing in MotoGP, not to mention finishing on the podium! My Honda-LCR team did a great job and we worked hard. This weekend was difficult and if I had been asked after if I would finish on the podium, I would have laughed! "

• MNC special file :

"I played my cards in the race, I felt good and Marc Marquez and I had the same tactic: to preserve the rear tire and to manage a little more than usual. Every race in MotoGP is always a battle and that ‘ was nice to be there and to finish on the podium ".

"What a great start to the season for everyone, my team, the other drivers, the supporters here in Qatar and the spectators at home! Honestly it was a dream, because at one point we weren’t sure if I would be back."…

Site analysis : Backtracking to, when Cal Crutchlow flies away at high speed into the first corner during Free Practice 2 and has to be stretchered out with two very severe fractures to his right ankle, which will require two surgeries (the medical imaging below speaks for itself)…

Quick chat with Cal. MRI shows mashed ankle; right talus broken in 17 places! Now has almost 1kg of steel in the leg. Main plate is trying to push thru the skin. But he seems happy enough looking forward to riding a motorcycle for the first time since he rode into T1 at PI

– Mat Oxley (@matoxley)

The English driver, however tough, then spent long weeks bedridden and missed the GP of Malaysia and Valencia (Spain). Unable to train and suffering the martyrdom, the n ° 35 experienced a very trying winter both physically and mentally, since he admits to having feared never being able to get back on his semi-official Honda..

Cal Crutchlow finally got back on his bike in February during (Malaysia), after three and a half months of enforced inactivity. The Englishman confided that he had had the impression "of having been hit by a bus every morning when he got up" !

All his commendable efforts were admirably rewarded by this podium upon his return to competition, just 0.320 sec behind the winner of the Qatar GP! A real "dream" for the 33-year-old rider, author of three MotoGP victories since his arrival in 2011 (Czech Republic and Australia in 2016 then Argentina last year).

Its performance is all the more impressive as due to lack of rolling, the n ° 35 lost a lot of time in the development of the RC213V 2019. The native of Coventry first got his hands on the 2018 version, before to adopt the new vintage very recently. With success, visibly !

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