Cal Crutchlow MotoGP News
During the eight edition of World Ducati Week at the “Marco Simoncelli” Misano circuit, current Ducati Team rider Cal Crutchlow put an end to much speculation.
The Brit, who joined the factory Ducati Team for the 2014 MotoGP campaign, confirmed he will remain with the Borgo Panigale manufacturer through 2015.
Crutchlow, who struggled throughout the 2014 MotoGP season, earning a best finish of sixth at the opening round in Qatar, underwent last week a double-arm surgery to cure the arm-pump symptoms he has experienced.
Crutchlow, 28, who joined the premier-MotoGP class in 2011, made the announcement at a press conference during World Ducati Week alongside Paolo Ciabatti (MotoGP Project Director) and Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager).
“Andrea (Dovizioso) is having a great season but we need to keep working hard in the second half of the year. I am certain that they are working hard in the factory in Italy. We hope to keep getting closer to the front guys. Marc (Marquez) seems like he is from another planet but Andrea (Iannone) beat him in the past,” Crutchlow says.
Dall’Igna adds “We have made some progress but not enough and we need to work even harder in the second half of the season. We have a new fairing coming soon and we’ll have a new chassis at Aragon. Our goal, which will be difficult to achieve before the end of the year but not impossible, is to reduce the gap to the front to 10 seconds.”
For his part, Ciabatti confirmed Ducati’s rider line-up stating, “Dovizioso has renewed his contract this morning, Cal has a contract with us for next season and he will continue in the ‘official’ team next year. Iannone has done even better than we expected and we want him to stay with us. We want to offer him better technical support and next week we should be able to decide how to do it, what the contract will be and the exact technical package.”
Iannone himself added, “The results in the first half of the year help with the motivation to keep working hard. I’m a Ducati rider right now and even though I’m young I would like to stay with them throughout my career in MotoGP.”