Cal Crutchlow will participate as a wild card in three events in 2024: he will be at the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the San Marini Grand Prix at Misano as part of his test work.
The Briton raced with Yamaha in the Superbike World Championship before making his MotoGP debut with the Japanese brand in 2011, as part of the then Tech 3 satellite team. He was part of the team from 2011 to 2013, taking six podiums before moving to Ducati in 2014 and then in LCR in 2015.
On Honda, Crutchlow won three races between 2016 and 2018, breaking a win streak for an English rider that had lasted since 1977. He remained with the LCR team before retiring at the end of 2020 and becoming a Yamaha tester from 2021.
That year he contested four races, first as a replacement for the injured Franco Morbidelli in the Petronas SRT team, then replacing Maverick Vinales in the factory team when the Spaniard left.
Crutchlow then took Andrea Dovizioso's place in the RNF team for the last six rounds of the 2022 season, when the Forlì native retired after the San Marino Grand Prix. The last race he took part in was last year, when he was present as a wild card in Japan, finishing 13th in a wet race.
As part of the new 2024 concessions regulations, Yamaha can exploit six wild cards throughout the season. It is not clear whether the Iwata manufacturer will count on Crutchlow's presence even after the Misano race.
At the moment, Honda, KTM and Aprilia can bring six wild cards to the track through the concessions system, while Ducati is not entitled to any. KTM has already announced its 2024 plans, with two appearances: Dani Pedrosa takes part in this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix and Pol Espargaro will race at Mugello. Aprilia and Honda also have wild cards this weekend in Andalusia, with Lorenzo Savadori riding the RS-GP and Stefan Bradl with the RC213V.
Yamaha is currently fourth in the manufacturers' standings after a difficult start to 2024, with only a top 10 as its best result. However, the Japanese brand has announced that it will bring a completely different M1 to the Jerez tests on Monday.
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