Aegerter back in Top10, Mulhauser shines in the rain
The first day of free practice for the Grand Prix of the Americas on the circuit of Austin, Taxas, was eventful. First the weather - it was raining with low morning temperatures. Then the delays caused as a result of missing track marshals who did not arrive on time for the first Moto3 free practice and finally an urgent interruption of the MotoGP practice due to an unexpected visitor... a dog that escaped from one spectator to the track during the practice!
And the action was also eventful. In the Swiss camp: Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten) was a sensation with his 11th fastest time of the first session, his best performance since his debut in grand prix. This illustrates that the youngster from Fribourg is making a progress. Later, the track dried out in the afternoon, but the weather wasn't perfect. In these conditions, we saw another nice surprise: he loves this circuit and he shined here in the past two years - Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten) was tenth in the classification, 1.440 off the provisional pole man. It is also worth noting that Sam Lowes from Britain (fastest lap time) and the reigning world champion Tito Rabat (3rd fastest) crashed two times this Friday.
To sum it up with the boss of the CGBM Evolution (the company that owns the two teams), Fred Corminboeuf: "Good day for Robin. This morning he was 11th fastest, he was the fastest Swiss rider of the session and his performance confirms what we already know for a long time: Mulhauser is getting closer to his objective to score world championship points in every race. Dominique Aegerter is getting his confidence back on this circuit that he loves and that is very important for him. And Tom, he is working very hard like everyone else to find, among other things, a good base set-up. For this, his day was difficult because we only had one dry session. But we can trust our guys: the atmosphere is great within the team, we are working all together and we will get there."
And they said ...
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 10th): "It is definitely better than in Qatar, but my day was not easy. This morning I could not avoid a crash and I regret it mainly because it was after the final straight and honestly I do not understand what happened there. My neck is a bit sore, a finger on my right hand is hurt but it's ok. Compared to the winter testing I had better feeling on the bike in the rain; in dry conditions we are still not where we want to be but we are working hard to understand our bike; I'm still not as comfortable as I'd like to be. But I have a good impression, I'm starting to enjoy riding again and I know that that's how I can get back into my best form."
Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 25th): "It was great in the rain this morning. I did not feel in danger at all, my lap times were improving naturally and I was even surprised when I found out that I was eleventh. I was calm, comfortable and everything was working well. This afternoon in dry conditions it was a lot more difficult. This circuit of the Americas has many hard braking points and I am simply not able to turn the bike. From the entire session, I had to go straight about fifteen times, if I insisted I would put too much weight on the front and it would be even worse. Nevertheless I am sure that we can find a solution and when we find it we can improve by one second on each lap."
