Crutchlow on the grid for Motegi
Yamaha has officially announced that Cal Crutchlow will be a wild card entry in the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, Round 14 of the 2023 FIM MotoGP World Championship.
Crutchlow will ride riding a special livery YAMALUBE RS4GP Racing Team YZR-M1 at the Mobility Resort Motegi (formerly known as Twin Ring Motegi) circuit in the race weekend of 29 Sept – 1 Oct.
As the official Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Test Team rider, Crutchlow is the ideal choice for the YAMALUBE RS4GP Racing Team for their one-off MotoGP entry.
The Briton‘s participation in the 2023 Japanese GP marks his first Yamaha wild card experience since he started riding for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Test Team in 2021. However, he did contest 10 GPs over the course of 2021-2022 as a replacement rider.
Cal Crutchlow
“I‘m happy to have the chance to race at Motegi with the YAMALUBE RS4GP Racing Team. As Yamaha‘s Official Test Rider, I do all I can to help develop the M1. The GP in Japan is a good opportunity to test prototype items in a race setting. I look forward to working with the YAMALUBE RS4GP Racing Team, starting with the upcoming test in August. I‘m sure we‘ll have a great time together. We will work hard to collect as much valuable information for Yamaha as possible.”
With the upcoming wild card entry for the Grand Prix of Japan, Yamaha aims to have Crutchlow work on prototype parts analysis in a premier class race setting.
By lining up Crutchlow alongside fellow Yamaha MotoGP riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli on the grid of one of Japan‘s biggest races, Yamaha affirms their mission to accelerate bike development.
Kazutoshi Seki – YMC MotoGP Proejct Leader
“I believe this wild card will be a significant turning point to improve the performance of the YZR-M1. The engineers are working very hard, and Cal‘s participation in the Japanese GP benefits the improvement of the YZR-M1 for the factory team – not only for this season but also for the next.”
