Cal Crutchlow and Jorge Lorenzo are disputing who was to blame for this morning’s MotoGP free practice one crash at Motegi.

Lorenzo is putting culpability firmly at the Honda man’s door as it was Crutchlow who lost the front on the brakes and skittled the Ducati into the gravel.

However, Crutchlow countered, saying Lorenzo was dawdling on the racing line and going so slowly that the Isle of Man rider had to brake much harder than usual, causing him to lose control of the RC213V.

“This morning I was quite lucky because when Crutchlow’s bike hit me and I crashed, I could have been badly hurt. Luckily in the end, apart from a bang on the hand, it was nothing serious,” said Lorenzo, who initially feared he had broken his hand in the crash.

Crutchlow said Lorenzo had looked behind him and knew the RC213V was approaching…

“I’m sorry for him because I hit him, and it looks like I’m the villain. But he was going really slow on the racing line. I was going really fast, and if you look at the rider in front of him, he brakes later than me. But I had to brake harder because I was going to hit Jorge, I locked the front on the water,’ said Crutchlow.

“He knew I was coming, and he was six seconds slower than his previous lap. I crashed into him, so it doesn’t look good for me… we’re not going to agree on the situation, for sure. I didn’t want to take him out, and it was a big crash. I think it was 50/50, more 60/40 in his favour.”