Crutchlow: 'A Bit of Magic' at Silverstone, Fastest Ever

Cal Crutchlow once again showed a 'bit of magic' at Silverstone, breaking into the top 14 during Friday afternoon practice for the 2026 British MotoGP. Although he eventually dropped to 20th, the 40-year-old replacement rider clocked a 1m 58.190s lap, beating Pol Espargaro, Toprak Razgatlioglu, and Augusto Fernandez.

Crutchlow, making his sixth appearance of the season replacing the injured Johann Zarco, admitted he felt like a 'passenger' after nearly a month off. "The biggest problem is I've been nearly a month off, so suffering a little bit with arm pump. But the more I ride this weekend, it'll either get better or worse," he said.

Interestingly, Crutchlow felt this was the fastest he has ever been around Silverstone. "I feel alright. Tried to keep a little bit of magic, again. Fastest I've ever been around Silverstone, so I can't ask for anything else," he said with satisfaction.

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Despite that, he admitted the circuit is tough, especially after five years away. "When I went out this morning, I thought, 'This place never used to be this fast, surely'. These fast changes of directions, if you miss one of them, you're screwed for five of them. But overall, I felt okay," he explained.

On a day when eight riders went under the old lap record, Crutchlow wondered, "I'm asking the same question: why the f**k are they going so fast? I wish I had maybe come back a couple of years ago, my lap time would have been right there then! But it's not demoralising, because I look and think, I'm eight tenths from the top ten. It's not that bad."

The LCR Honda rider also gave credit to the front runners. "The front guys are going really fast, and all credit to them. To go around here at that speed is impressive. But this has been the same as every other track, I remember Brno was the same, ridiculous lap time," he said.

Crutchlow closed with hopes of battling again on Saturday and Sunday. "As I said, I felt okay. Need to improve in some areas, but I'm not expecting a miracle. I expect to hopefully be able to battle a little bit again tomorrow and Sunday," he concluded. His LCR team-mate Diogo Moreira was 15th fastest in the session.