CAL Crutchlow and his Ducati team are gearing up for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Japan where they will be hoping to emulate another podium finish in round 15 of the MotoGP World Championship.
The 28-year-old produced his best performance of what has been a season to forget in Aragon last weekend where celebrated a rare moment of success by finishing third.
And the Coventry-born rider heads into Sunday’s race in Japan high in confidence although he is under no illusions with how hard the Japanese circuit can be.
The Twin Ring Motegi circuit has a very unusual layout, with a series of long straights followed by tight corners that are a tough test for the brakes of the bikes and their performance in acceleration.
In recent years Crutchlow has stuggled in Japan having qualified on the front row in 2012 but last year he was unable to go any higher than seventh place.
“Motegi is a bit of a strange track because of its hard braking, but that’s good for me and it will be interesting to see how we go there,” said Crutchlow.
“With a good result at Aragon under our belt, we are looking forward to going to Japan, where I’ve got a lot of fans, and hopefully we can keep improving.
“I’m pleased with the work the guys in the team have done with me recently, and obviously now we are in better shape than what we were before.
This weekend is the first in a tough overseas end-of-season triple-header, which will continue with two more rounds in Australia and Malaysia in the next two weekends.
