Cal Crutchlow made a remarkable return from injury to finish third in the first MotoGP of the season in Qatar on Sunday evening.
He might yet move up a slot to second, pending the outcome of a protest lodged with the FIM regarding the aerodynamic devices on the rear swing arm of the factory Ducati ridden by race winner Andrea Dovizioso.
Crutchlow, having spent much of the winter recovering from serious leg injuries sustained at the Australian Grand Prix in October, managed to qualify his LCR Honda on the second row of the grid in sixth place.
The Ramsey resident made a good start and by the end of the opening lap of the Losail Circuit he was up two places.
He then held third briefly for a few laps, with the two factory Suzuki riders of Ãlex Rins and Joan Mir all over his back wheel.
Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci wrestled third spot from Crutchlow on lap seven and by lap 10 in a closely-fought contest he was back down to his starting position of sixth as he was overtaken by Mir.
Over the final six laps of the desert-based venue, Crutchlow began reeling in his opponents one-by-one, getting up to third on the 20th lap of 22.
Rins battled back, but a last-lap surge allowed Crutchlow to grab it back on the line to take a well-deserved third place on the rostrum.
In the post-race press conference he said: ’After being 14th in the warm-up it was great to be on the podium again so quickly after my accident at Phillip Island.’ He revealed that he had made a late tyre choice, but that the Honda had a great engine and the team had done a very good job for him over the weekend.
Asked if he had trouble getting off his LCR Honda after the race, Cal replied his foot was fine but that a foot peg from another rider hit him in his backside and he couldn’t feel it for the last 20 minutes of the race.
’Getting a podium finish is just a dream,’ he added.
Result: 1, A. Dovizioso (Ducati); 2, M. Márquez (Honda) +0.023sec; 3, C. Crutchlow (Honda) +0.320; 4, Ã. Rins (Suzuki) +0.457; 5, V. Rossi (Yamaha) +0.600.
Protests were made by Aprilia Racing, Red Bull KTM, Repsol Honda and Team Suzuki over their concerns about the machines ridden by Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller based on guidelines and regulations currently in force. The FIM MotoGP stewards panel rejected the protests, but appeals panel has subsequently decided to refer the case to the MotoGP Court of Appeals in order to attain more information pertaining to the matter.
The result of the VisitQatar Grand Prix remains in standing.
MOTO2
Lincoln man Sam Lowes, who is based in Onchan, finished sixth in the Moto2 race at Qatar, the first with all of the riders using the new 765cc Triumph engines.
Lorenzo Baldassari beats Thomas Luthi in a photo-finish, with another photo-finish for third between Marcel Schrotter and Remy Gardner.
Riding the Federal Oil Gresini Kalex, Lowes beat Marc Marquez’s younger brother Alex by 1.6s.
Round two of the MotoGP series is the Argentinian Grand Prix on March 31.