WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Opens Final Round of 2022 in Valencia 04.11.2022: Cal Crutchlow and Darryn Binder faced a difficult Friday at the ultimate Grand Prix of the season. The final two practice sessions of the year took place today at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo today in sunny but windy weather conditions. Thereby, the W

Cal Crutchlow and Darryn Binder faced a difficult Friday at the ultimate Grand Prix of the season.



The final two practice sessions of the year took place today at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo today in sunny but windy weather conditions. Thereby, the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team experienced a challenging Friday with super close lap times of the entire MotoGP World Championship field. Yet they still managed to improve significantly from FP1 to FP2.



Cal Crutchlow had a decent start into round 20 of the season. He missed out on the top by just 0.875 seconds at the end of Free Practice one, but still ended up in P21. In the second session this afternoon, he went nearly one second faster than in FP1 and made up two positions in the combined standings. The Brit concluded day one in P19 overall, although he went down around halfway through FP2.



On the other side of the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP garage, Darryn Binder had to learn a new venue aboard his Yamaha YZR-M1. A technical issue and a crash in FP1 didn’t really boost his confidence. Nevertheless, the South African premier class rookie improved by 1.549 seconds from FP1 to FP2, getting closer to the top and finished Friday in P24.



Tomorrow’s action starts with Free Practice three at 09:55 local time, followed by FP4 at 13:30 and the all-important final Qualifying session from 14:10 local time.





Cal Crutchlow
WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team


“Today was a difficult day. We’ve been trying to adjust settings with the bike and had a different program to the guys in the Factory, which we normally do throughout the weekend to help them out. I felt quite good, unfortunately, I had a small crash in turn two. I went out and the front tyre was cold and I didn’t heat it enough on the out lap, so it was completely my own fault.



 I should know better with my experience and my age. I still managed to go out in the end and tried a fast lap time. Unfortunately, we had a medium front tyre, which didn’t work that well at this track in these conditions. But we are positive for tomorrow. We need to make the bike a lot more calm at the moment as it seems we are having to fight quite a lot here in Valencia. Let’s see how it’s going to work out tomorrow in Qualifying.”





Darryn Binder
WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team



“It’s not been an easy start to the final GP of the season. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage many laps in FP1, as we had some small troubles with one bike. I got out on the second bike, but unluckily I had a crash in turn one, which ended my FP1 early.


In FP2 I made some steady progress slowly, but surely and made some improvements compared to this morning. I’m still looking to get comfortable and figure my way out around the circuit of Valencia.”



 

-- Yamaha Amsterdam also photos