Cal Crutchlow says he still doesn\u2019t \u201cmiss\u201d MotoGP despite having come back for several races to replace Johann Zarco.<\/p>\n
Cal Crutchlow\u2019s replacement spot at LCR Honda in MotoGP has not changed his view on his relationship with motorcycle racing at 40-years-old.<\/p>\n
Crutchlow stepped away from full-time racing at the end of 2020, after his sixth season as a full-time rider with LCR Honda, a team with which he won three MotoGP races.<\/p>\n
The British rider did multiple races after that, though, with Yamaha, for which he was a test rider until 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For two years then he didn\u2019t ride, but came back in 2026 to replace Johann Zarco when the Frenchman was injured at Catalunya and HRC couldn\u2019t use either of its test riders to fill the position.<\/p>\n
But riding is not something Crutchlow has missed, and this has not been changed by his mid-season stand-in for Zarco.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d said Cal Crutchlow at the British Grand Prix pre-event press conference, when asked by Crash.net\u2019s sister site Visordown whether his LCR fill-in ride has made him regret retiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy game to come out of for two years and then come back in, not riding a bike at all in those two years before I rode 30 laps of Misano just before Mugello.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the sport. I haven\u2019t come back for any other reason than they asked me to come back, Honda and LCR asked me to come back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have done it for anybody else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I don\u2019t miss the sport, necessarily, I miss the competitiveness \u2013 I miss racing, let\u2019s say.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I was also fine with sitting at home and watching it on TV, so I\u2019m not looking at this as though I want to come back racing, because I don\u2019t, that\u2019s 100 per cent. I\u2019m 40-years-old, I\u2019m 41 in a couple of months \u2013 I\u2019m not stupid.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s good fun to come back in and know that I\u2019m only doing a certain amount of races and then I\u2019m going to go back home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming back as a replacement for a certain number of races could also mean less pressure for Crutchlow, but he says that comes from himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, the pressure comes from myself, actually,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n