Cal Crutchlow had to settle for fourth place in the Monster Energy Grand Prix de Barcelona at Catalunya on Sunday.

Having lost the front of the LCR Honda on the final corner of qualifying, on a very fast lap, he was ninth on the grid for the race.

He arrived at the first corner in eighth place, managing to pass Bradley Smith (KTM) and then Andrea Ianonne (Suzuki) for sixth spot, before reeling in Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati) and the HRC Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

With 15 laps remaining he despatched Petrucci and closed in on Pedrosa, but the latter was never going to be an easy pass and it took Crutchlow another four laps to finally get past the factory Honda man.

Once Crutchlow was back in clean air he set about catching Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), but ran out of laps - missing out on the podium by a few seconds.

The Ramsey-based rider was again the top independent home and has now closed to within a few points of current leader Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha) in the standings.

The race was won by an on-form Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) with Marc Marquez (Honda) second.

Onchan-based Sam Lowes suffered an electrical issue with his machine before the start of the Moto2 race, but gave a spirited ride to go from last to ninth at the close.

l The next Moto Grand Prix is the Assen TT on July 1.

PETER CALLISTER