This weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix is the first of three rounds in three weekends across the Asia-Pacific region, and the LCR Honda Team is positive about strengthening Cal Crutchlow’s grip on as Top Independent Team rider in the championship.

The British rider moved up to sixth place overall with an excellent fifth-position finish last time out in Aragon, and with this weekend’s race taking place at the Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi it is hoped that his good run of form can continue.

The Motegi layout is quite stop-start in nature, with several straights linked together with lots of first and second gear corners which make it the hardest braking track on the whole MotoGP calendar.

#35 Cal Crutchlow

“I’m looking forward to this weekend, the first of the three flyaway races, and because it’s Honda’s home race it’s one that the whole LCR Honda Team are excited about, me included. As we know, this year the acceleration has been a little difficult, so here we have to try and take advantage of our strong area, which is in the braking zones and the faster corners. I look forward to having a good weekend here in Motegi and hopefully we can bring home a good result to start this run of races well.”