The Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team is happy to announce. They have teamed up with Cal Crutchlow for two Grands Prix in Austria, held at Spielberg, and the BritishGP at Silverstone.
The English rider will be the team’s substitute rider in the MotoGP class.Replacing Franco Morbidelli, who is still recovering after surgery from a fractured left knee he sustained.
Crutchlow has already spent three seasons aboard with the Yamaha and arrives as a development and official test rider.
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Razlan Razali, Team Principal, Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
After looking at all the options, it was a collective decision between Yamaha. And ourselves to ask Cal Crutchlow to fill in for Franco while he recovers from surgery.
Cal is a credible and experienced rider who is currently a test rider for Yamaha.
As an independent team, this is where we can step up to help Yamaha. Cal will rack up some good mileage on our M1, which should aid him with his testing and development work for Yamaha.
Cal will replace Franco for the next three races, and we have no real targets for him in terms of results.
We will do all we can to help support him and make him feel comfortable in the team.
He’s already familiar with some of the key people in the team. Which helps, and I’m sure he’s up for the challenge.
Cal Crutchlow, Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
It’s great to be back riding with Yamaha this year as the official test rider.And to be able to step in when needed is suitable for all parties.
I’m looking forward to riding for Petronas Yamaha SRT in the three Grands Prix. It’s not in the best circumstances, and I wish Franco a good recovery.
I hope he comes back strongly after the knee surgery. I’m sure he will because he’s been riding fantastically over the last two years.
It is not easy to set targets for these three races, and it will be more about understanding the bike.
As I’ve had limited riding days this year, the good thing will be that I can compare the bikes. And I should be able to gather many data for Yamaha.
It’s a bit like being thrown in the deep end, as it’s a very competitive MotoGP class. But I’m looking forward to it, and it’s going to be good to be back on the grid.
I’m looking forward to meeting the team in Austria. Although there will be some familiar faces for me because Wilco Zeelenberg was my Team Manager in Supersport in 2009.
And I raced against Johan Stigefelt some years ago, so it will be a pleasure to be back with them.
via MotoGP
