Cal Crutchlow: We may as well skip next round in Texas

Cal Crutchlow says his Tech 3 Yamaha team "may as well skip" the Americas MotoGP because they didn't attend the pre-season test at the Texan venue.

The Circuit of the Americas in Austin held a test in March so that teams could get data ahead of the track's MotoGP race debut on 21 April.

Both Yamahas and Repsol Hondas plus LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl were the only ones to attend.

"Being best of the rest will be the aim," Briton Crutchlow told BBC Sport.

"We may as well skip Texas to be honest. Bradl ran well in the test, so I'll aim for him."

Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who won the season-opening race in Qatar on Sunday, was one of the riders to attend the test in Austin.

The Spaniard said at the time that he was surprised some of his rivals were not testing because it was a particularly tricky track to learn.

Although Crutchlow, who challenged for a podium before finishing fifth in Qatar, admits his team will struggle in Texas, he's encouraged by the overall pace of the bike.

"I think we rode well," added the 27-year-old. "I should have finished second if I could have passed the Hondas, but that's just the way it was.

"We can take positives from it because I think we're fast. We're faster than we were last year and we're able to challenge the factory guys.

"My pace was a second-a-lap faster than last year on essentially the same bike so we've gained experience and are definitely faster.

"If I got away with Jorge, I think I could have stayed with him for a long time."