Cal Crutchlow and Darryn Binder deliver best WithU Yamaha RNF finish of 2022

Unlike all expectations, rain was back on Sunday morning for the Warm Up session of the MotoGP in Australia. Yet, the sun came out shortly after and dried up the track for some fantastic racing at the riders’ favorite Phillip Island Circuit for round 18 of 2022.

The 27 laps thriller couldn’t get any more exciting for the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team. Cal Crutchlow started from P17 and lost several positions on the opening laps to find himself back in P21 on lap two. From there he started his march through the field and picked up one place after another, being in the points on Lap 13. He made some more efforts in the second half of the race to eventually see the flag in 13th.

Darryn Binder did his classical start from P18 to move to 15th already on the opening lap. Although he lost some places in the following laps, and got passed by his teammate on lap 13, he managed to stick with Crutchlow, keeping up the good pace of the Yamaha test rider and made up another position. MotoGP rookie Binder finally crossed the line in P14, which is the third time this year he managed to score points.

CAL CRUTCHLOW

“Honestly speaking, I’m a bit disappointed with the result but I caused it myself, I did a mistake during the start and fell back almost to last, so I had to come back through. My problem was in the first lap, I had no heat in the brake, I got a good start, went into turn one and ran wide and the bike started to shook and I went backward. I was pleased with my pace in the race, I just picked my way through and passed by some guys. If I would have went with Johann (Zarco) and rode the way I should have ridden here, I could have stayed there as I had the pace. I felt really good, the best all weekend so it’s a shame for the result, but the last five laps I just had no tyre left. But, I was quite pleased with the bike and felt in control of the bike with the lap time I was doing. Now, we go to Malaysia and try with Fabio to win there, cause now all we can do is try to win.”

DARRYN BINDER

“I’m really happy with the race today. I’m glad to find my way back into the points again. I had a really good race. I was in amongst good company, behind Cal for a lot of the race. The gap to the first position is the closest it’s ever been with 14 seconds! I feel I did a good job this weekend, improving in every session and putting together a strong race. I’m happy with how things ended, it’s great to get some points again and now I’m looking forward to Malaysia.”