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Crutchlow: What Lorenzo wants "we've been asking for years"

LCR rider Cal Crutchlow says the bike changes that Honda's new signing Jorge Lorenzo has been requesting are the same as what other Honda riders have asked for "for years".

Valentin Khorounzhiy

Published: Jun 14, 2019, 11:47 AM

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Jorge Lorenzo, Repsol Honda Team

Lorenzo, who has found life tough on the RC213V so far, said after Mugello that he believed he was "the right rider" to help transform Honda's bike into a more user-friendly, less physical machine, just as he had done at Ducati.

The three-time world champion visited Honda's Asakadai factory after the Mugello round in an effort to assist the engineers in making a bike he would feel more comfortable on.

But when Crutchlow was asked whether he expected this visit to pay dividends for him as well, the LCR man played down the impact the Lorenzo could have.

"He's saying that he's going to get Honda to make the bike easier to ride, but if the bike becomes easier to ride, it's not because he asked - we've been asking for four years," Crutchlow said.

"It's always been the main complaint. So, just because he said it, now suddenly everyone says, 'oh, if it becomes easy it's because he's said so, or he's asked and he's developed it that way'. We've been asking for years.

"The problem is, Marc is leading the championship, he's won the last God knows how many championships. On a bike that is very difficult and physical to ride, but he's winning. It's for the other riders to try and go as fast as him on the equipment.

"At the moment I can't, at the moment Jorge can't, Dani [Pedrosa], he couldn't either. And this is the reality.

"But, on the better side, Honda completely understand the request, they completely understand the difficulties we have and we face, but they also understand the strong points. And the strong points is that Marc is leading the championship - and however Marc is riding, obviously that is working.

"So, you know, I can't say too much from that side of things - but if the bike starts to become better, it's not because Jorge Lorenzo went to Honda for a few days, that's definitely, definitely not true."

Lorenzo's visit to the factory has yielded some changes to his bike for the current Barcelona weekend, which have included a revised fuel tank.

And while team boss Alberto Puig has made it clear that Honda wouldn't overhaul its bike to aid Lorenzo as long as Marquez is winning, Crutchlow stressed it wouldn't be fair to accuse Honda of working just for one rider.

"It's not that they are working just for Marc, that they are not working hard to improve - because the complaint also comes from Marc.

"And I would say, me and Marc say very similar things. But he's able to ride in one way. If you look at the bike and everybody says look how the bike turns - it's not the bike turning, it's Marc turning.

"Look the lean angle he has to give compared to his competitors - look at [Danilo] Petrucci's lean angle in the whole [Mugello] race, and Petrucci wins the race. Marc is leaning maybe seven or eight degrees more per corner to make the bike go around the corner.

"I think in general we need to improve."

Lorenzo's Barcelona update

Jorge Lorenzo, Repsol Honda Team, fuel tank

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