The news that Yamaha has chosen not to continue with Jorge Lorenzo and instead sign Cal Crutchlow as its factory Mo🍬toGP test rider next season, prompted the following tweet from the five-time world champion likening the move to 'exchanging gold for bronze'.
Correct. It’s like exchanging gold for bronze...
— Jorge Lorenzo (@lorenzo99)
Crutchlow was ask🌼ed for his opinion of that comparison after Friday practice for his final Moto💦GP as a full-time rider, at Portimao:
"At th🗹e 🔜end of the day I don’t really have anything to say to him. He feels the way he feels. I fully respect him as a racer, a five times world champion – he will tell you a lot that he's five times world champion!
"He's incredible as a ra⛦cer and very, very special on the bike but that doesn’t mean he's a great test rider. It's as simple as that. So I think you have to take some things he says with a pinch of salt and get on.
"I'm sure it's affecting him more than it's affecting me, what he said. I can take it with a pinch of salt because it comes from a guy that walks around tell💛ing people things all the time.
"At the end of the day it's no skin off my back. I'm happy. I have things to do, I have a family, friends and, you know, obvﷺiously he's just bored at home."
The🐟 Englishman was speaking after being 14th quickest for LCR Honda during Friday practice for the season finale.
"A really difficult circuit and especially difficult on the Honda I think, with the way the bike shakes, is unstable and wheelies a lot. But I felt quite positive out there, it was nice to get back out on a track I hadn't ridden in 11 years," Crutchlow said of his return to a track where he won the 2009 World Supersporꦐt title.
"I didn't feel fantastic but not too bad. I'm disappointed with the final position because I 🐼made a couple of mistakes on the fast laps but overall a positive feeling. I think tyre wear is going to be the crucial point this weekend, understanding it and being able to manage it in a 25-lap race."
Lore🐬nzo is being linked with a possible switch to Aprilia as a MotoGP test rider for 2021.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the fo⭕refront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.