LCR Honda Castrol rider Cal Crutchlow has given high praise to the newly surfaced Silverstone circuit, explaining the new asphalt may lead to lap times being “1.5 seconds quicker” when the MotoGP paddock heads to British shores at the end of August.

The 2018 Argentina GP winner was at the Northamptonshire circuit on board a Honda RC213V-S, the road going version of his race winning prototype machine, and gave very positive feedback on the work that was done over winter at Silverstone.

“It’s been a privilege to be at Silverstone today and to see the work and investment that has gone into the improvements to the track,” said an up-beat Crutchlow.

Before the resurfacing, the riders complained that the surface was too inconsistent, with plenty of bumps. Now though, Crutchlow expects to see lap records tumble.

“The consistency is incredible and that’s definitely going to have an impact on lap records. If I was to take a guess at the impact on lap times, I would think it’s going to be about 1.5 seconds a lap faster than before and that’s a massive amount of time to save each lap at MotoGP level.”

Crutchlow, Qatar MotoGP 2017

By MotoGP