---
title: "Crutchlow: We are very sorry for the fans"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/10/21/crutchlow-sorry-fans/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2016-10-21T12:23:20Z"
modified: "2016-10-21T12:23:41Z"
---

# Crutchlow: We are very sorry for the fans

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow has expressed his sympathies to the hardy Australian fans who were denied track action this afternoon because of the weather, but says that the safety of the riders had to be taken into consideration.

Despite securing his maiden win in a wet Brno race earlier in the season, as well as taking second place in similar conditions at the Sachsenring, Crutchlow has always aired his dislike for riding in the rain and made no secret of that fact once again in the pre-event press release prior to this weekend.

Nonetheless, the British rider was class of the field in the torrid conditions of FP1. Crutchlow only completed seven flying laps, but still managed to shoot to the top of the time sheets with a 1m40.957s, though only by 0.053s from Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.

Conditions deteriorated further by the time FP2 rolled around, and whilst most prepared to go out as normal Crutchlow didn’t even bother to put on his leathers. Knowing that Saturday is likely to bring the same sort of weather, he did not feel the need to risk it and head out on track. With the best time from the truncated FP2 11 seconds off of his FP1 best, this proved to be a wide decision.

If the weather doesn’t improve for qualifying, Crutchlow will likely be the bookmakers’ favourite for pole after dominating qualifying at a wet Silverstone last month.

“It’s been a disappointing today,” said Crutchlow. “We’re not so happy with the weather conditions of course, but you have to think about the safety of the riders. This is a really fast circuit and it became very difficult to see in the morning session, and then later in the day for the second practice there was no point in taking any risks; I didn’t even put my leathers on!

“We now need to concentrate on tomorrow. It looks like it will be wet again so that’s why we didn’t need to go out in the afternoon. We are very sorry for the fans who stood out in the rain and didn’t get to watch any more track activity, but we have to consider safety and make sure we get everyone through the weekend in good shape.

“I look forward to qualifying tomorrow now, and then to the race on Sunday.”