CWM-LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow will head back to his home on the Isle of Man (UK) satisfied with the progress he and the team have made during their first outing of the 2015 season.

As is normal in Malaysia, track conditions were best in the first hour after the circuit opened at 10am, after which the effects of direct sunshine and heat means it is almost impossible to set a fast lap. As if to demonstrate that fact, factory Honda rider Marc Marquez set the fastest-ever lap of the 3.444 mile layout on just the eighth of his 52 laps (1’58.867).

Crutchlow was keen to point out that while he didn’t set a one-off fast lap like the riders ahead of him on the final timesheets, he was focused more on getting the feeling right on the bike for the crucial final laps of the races. With that in mind, the Briton racked up a total of 67 laps, more than anyone else today, with a best time of 2’00.536.

The CWM-LCR Honda Team now return to Europe to work on their findings from this test, before heading back out to Malaysia for a four-day session later this month starting February 23rd.

Crutchlow said, “I’m relatively happy with today, although I’m not that pleased with the final lap time because we didn’t manage to get in a fast lap. We’ll need to start to work in that area soon though, because on old, used race tyres we are very fast and working in a really good way with the team.”

“At the moment I’m still not quite familiar enough with the bike to push extra hard and take advantage with the newer rubber; I’m just not comfortable enough to do that yet. However I do feel comfortable on used tyres, and just like yesterday we have made some solid improvements over the course of the day and we can definitely come back to the next test here at Sepang and be competitive.”