After recently being announced as the replacement for Ben Spies in the Yamaha Tech 3 team, Cal Crutchlow got his first taste of his new MotoGP machinery at Yamaha’s test track in Fukuroi, Japan.

Despite mixed weather conditions which saw the track vary between damp conditions and wet conditions, Crutchlow had the opportunity to test the M1 on both full wet and slick Bridgestone tyres. Crutchlow will test again with the rest of the MotoGP teams after the final race in Valencia on the 9th and 10th November.

Crutchlow gives his thoughts and first impressions of his new bike below.

Cal Crutchlow:
“The M1 felt a lot smaller than my Yamaha R1 superbike. I actually found the positioning more comfortable than the WSB machine. There is a lot of power but it feels very useable, it felt very different to a production based machine in terms of its delivery. In the wet we used the normal steel brakes but when it started to dry I had a chance to try the carbon ones which were cool, I managed to get quite comfortable with them. I found the chassis very stiff, it was really easy to change direction and the electronics were really different, even more advanced than the high level I’m used to in Superbike! It was a shame the weather wasn’t great so I wasn’t able to push to the bike’s full potential, I’m really looking forward to the Valencia test so I can get back on it and give it a proper work out!”

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