Jerez poleman Cal Crutchlow says his Honda stablemate Dani Pedrosa is “the guy to beat” in Sunday's MotoGP race, but thinks others have a better chance of improving overnight than Honda.
Crutchlow set a new lap record in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying of a 1:37.653s to go three tenths clear of the second-placed Pedrosa, while Marc Marquez was only fifth despite looking favourite for pole.
The LCR rider believes last year's Jerez winner Pedrosa, despite the Spaniard still recovering from a wrist injury sustained in Argentina, is the favourite to take the victory on Sunday.
However, he feels Honda doesn't have “much margin” to make any gains with this bike for the race, while HRC's rival manufacturers do, citing Marquez's FP4 crash as proof of this.
“I don't know, because I think we don't have much margin for improvement with the Honda now,” Crutchlow said when asked if his fellow Honda riders were his main rivals for the race.
“We've reached a level where the other manufacturers can gain more in the night. I said this last night, I again say it tonight, because we are at the limit with our package.
You saw with Marc today we are at the limit, and the other guys I think they can get a little bit faster.
“We know that [Andrea] Iannone, [Andrea] Dovizioso both still have a good pace, and Johann [Zarco].
“But, for sure, Dani is the guy to beat this weekend, same as last year. But Marc is a better racer, so you never know what can happen.
“I look forward to seeing what happens and I aim to be on the podium.”
Pedrosa is still suffering from the effects of his broken wrist, but admits the injury has improved greatly from the Austin weekend, and feels the nature of the Jerez circuit, as well as the slightly reduced race distance compared to last year will make things less demanding for him.
“[We are] still struggling with that, swelling, but later we try in the evening to get the recovery for the next day,” he said.
“So, yeah, for that it's positive because from Austin to here I feel already better, so it's in a good way.
“This track is different obviously, and the laptimes are very tight. So it's more important the rhythm, that's going to be really more important than pushing here and there.
“But I think it's a good point that it's two laps less than last year, so this should be better for me in this moment. But, as I said, rhythm is more key than timing.”
