Aegerter (8th) wants more, Mulhauser misses out in the morning
For many years the weather conditions have always been extreme during the practice for the Catalan Grand Prix, making it difficult for riders and their technical staff. This month of June has been no exception: the weather is sultry, it could storm any minute, and the difference between the temperature during the morning's free practice session and the second free practice, in the middle of the afternoon, is significant: 8-degree difference in the air, 18-degree difference on the track! Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten) was classified as the best Swiss representative of the day, confirming his return to form; he was 8th fastest and only slightly quicker than Thomas Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten), who was 5th this afternoon and 9th overall. Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten) from Fribourg finished 29th today after showing signs of improvement in the morning. Fred Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, company that owns the two Swiss teams, summarised the day in the following words: "50:50. A good start for everybody but a bit more difficult afternoon for our three riders. Robin was close to a great lap time this morning, but he got blocked in the last sector. Domi and Tom were high up in the hierarchy the whole session. This afternoon with the increased heat, our three riders had the same kind of problems and Tom - 5th in the second session - was taking too much risk to minimise the impact. We have another day to work before the race day and for sure we are going to find the right solution."
They said...
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 8th): "We changed the set-up a bit between the sessions today and it did not work at all. The temperature was a lot higher, but I still cannot understand how I can be losing 1,6 seconds compared to my initial lap time, and I'm pushing so hard. Everything was good in the first session: I was three tenths from the fastest lap time and did my personal best on this circuit, which was really nice. On the other hand, as I have already said, things did not work this afternoon and the worst is that I don't understand what happened."
Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 29th): "This morning looked very positive because I significantly improved my personal best lap time here in Catalunya and also on my final lap I was 6 tenths off the pole after the first two sectors before I got stuck behind a slower rider in the third sector. My ideal time, looking at my best times from each sector, would put me in Top-20. This afternoon it was a disaster. I have never seen a track change so much between session and I had a feeling that I was on an ice ring. We need to think what to do for Saturday and try to adapt to changing temperature."
