Crutchlow hot property for ’19
Cal Crutchlow is the biggest name left in this year’s MotoGP rider-go-round, and speculation is building about where the winner of the Argentine Grand Prix will end up when the music stops.
He is in the first year of a two-year deal with the Honda factory, so is out of sync with the other top teams. He’s made no secret that he’d expect a call-up to the full factory Repsol team if Dani Pedrosa were to leave and he’s made a strong case for himself so far this year. After three races he is 20 points ahead of Pedrosa in the championship standings and has already chalked up a win, in Argentina, for his LCR team.
Pedrosa had a heroic ride to seventh place last time out in Austin only a week after undergoing surgery for a broken wrist while Crutchlow crashed out of contention. But it’s believed that Pedrosa has until the fifth round of the championship at Le Mans later this month to prove to Honda that he’s still deserving of his seat after 13 long title-less years.
Crutchlow is thought to have other options, however. Rumoured to be in talks with Suzuki before the Lorenzo deal looked to fall into place, he could also be on the wish list to replace the Spaniard at Ducati.
Parting with the factory Italian team after only one very difficult season back in 2014, he nonetheless left on friendly terms, particularly with Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi. And he’s seen since then that the bike is capable of challenging for the title. The confident Brit rates himself at least on a par with former team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who came close to pipping Marc Marquez to the title last year. Honda may not take too kindly to Crutchlow breaking his contract, but it has happened before. Crutchlow left Ducati a year early to make the leap to LCR Honda.
Should he move away from LCR next year, it also opens up the possibility for an Italian replacement for Crutchlow, with both Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone possible contenders to join Takaaki Nakagami on the competitive RC213V machine.
Crutchlow has shown contracts can be broken