Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards gain from the Estoril test - MotoGP Update
After a night’s gap to the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal, Tech 3 riders were back on track to get in their racing leather for the official test, following the race day. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo finished within the top ten positions, at the Portuguese Grand
Prix, on Sunday, May 8.
The double test session was spanned over seven hours of track time. The day was dry and sunny, giving riders the best track conditions to test their machines. Both riders, Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards spent a lot of time to enhance the race settings they
applied on the race day.
Crutchlow tested his YZR-M1 in various ways to get the ease of the ride, which would help him in increasing his pace in the future. The Briton changed the position of his M1’s handle bars and tried the modified wheelbase, to obtain a good result. Crutchlow
was able to wave-off two seconds from his Sunday’s race best lap-time, where he finished at eighth place.
The 25-year-old, British rider availed the new setup and struggled to set a best lap time of 1: 36.850 seconds, which scored him the fourth place on the final time sheet of the day. Only three riders, Marco Simoncelli, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner passed
ahead of Crutchlow. He completed 71 laps in total, over the two test sessions.
Crutchlow, while talking about the post-race test, said, “Today was really positive and I can't really ask for much more than finishing fourth quickest with only three of the fastest riders in the world in front of me. Losing so much track time because of
the weather at the weekend meant I couldn't risk taking a gamble on making too many changes for the race.”
Tech 3 team-mate, Colin Edwards, tested the different range of suspension settings to improve the rear-end grip of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1. The American rider was among the top three spots on the early time sheet of the day, for most of the first
test session. By the second test period, he set a best lap time of 1:37.410 seconds, gaining him the sixth fastest seat of the day.
Edwards was satisfied with the proceedings and added, “We tried various different combinations for the rear shock and linkages and we've found a good direction and we definitely made it better than it was for the race, so hopefully we found a set-up that
will help us at the next race in Le Mans.”
Crutchlow and Edwards were able to give Bridgestone, the only tyre supplier to MotoGP, some valuable feedback. The new two different compounds were introduced to the riders in testing for the 2012 season, which will hold the comeback of 1000cc era. Both
Tech 3 riders were pleased with the tyres and its’ edge grip during corners.
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