Cal Crutchlow has played down his chances at this weekend’s MotoGP round in Texas, claiming that a lack of circuit time in pre-season has meant that he is playing catch-up on the ‘big four’.

The British rider has impressed so far this campaign with some strong performances in testing, a second fastest qualifying time in Qatar and finishing fifth in the season opener, but has already claimed that the best he can hope for is to be the ‘best of the rest’ as MotoGP makes its debut at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Crutchlow was one of the few riders who didn’t take up an opportunity to test at the circuit in pre-season – a decision that he feels will leave him trailing the likes of Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez – who blitzed the track in pre-season.

Crutchlow did manage to sample the tracks on a road bike on Wednesday night but the Tech 3 rider is still conscious of the experience handicap.

“I managed to get here last night and do a few laps of the track to have a look – it’s a great circuit and facility and the big incline to the first corner is great,” he said. “I’ve taken away the positives from Qatar, especially as Jorge and Valentino Rossi showed the potential of the bike. But if you miss three days on these guys it could be near impossible [to challenge for a win].

“My job is to be at the front of the rest.”