Impressive fourth for Aegerter, Mulhauser asks himself questions
The third round of the 2016 Moto2 season - start at 19:20 Swiss time - looks very promising with the two best Swiss representatives standing next to each other on the second row of the starting grid. Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten) and Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten) qualified in 4th and 5th position respectively, 3 tenths off the pole position record set by Alex Rins from Spain. Divided by 8 thousandths of a second, the pair will have a word to say in the race, which is expected to be spectacular. The day was a lot more difficult for the third rider of the motorcycle "dream team", Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten) from Fribourg was only 27th. The Boss of the structure, Frédéric Corminboeuf, had a smile on his face today in Texas, although he reminds us that points are only given at the end of the race: "Tom improved his personal best lap time of this circuit by 1,7 seconds and even more importantly for the race, he found a really good pace at the end of qualifying. Second row start is perfect for a good start and to stay with the leading group right from the beginning on this demanding circuit. Dominique loves Austin, he is very strong and I know that he can maintain this pace to fight for the podium. I say that it is always necessary to consolidate performance before aiming higher; we have our two riders in the Top-5, if we can repeat this a couple of times, we will see them both on the front row soon. Robin's situation is more worrying: he is not able to put all the sectors of this circuit together; in some places he is almost as fast as Tom and Domi but in others he is completely stuck. I did not need to tell him that I was disappointed with his position, he knows it very well and he is angry with himself. Now he has to try to relax and I am sure that many things will happen in the race on Sunday, maybe he can work his way up."
They said...
Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten 4th) "Right until the last part of the session I was stuck on 2'10.5 and then, suddenly, we made a big step forward after the interruption due to the accident of Spaniard Efrén Vazquez. I went back out on track behind the world champion Johann Zarco and managed to stay with him for four laps. I feel good, we found a good set up in the right moment and to qualify on the second row of the grid makes me really happy: I will finally be much closer to the red lights on the start, I have been waiting for this for a long time! The level is very high and I am not sure if we can maintain this pace the whole race. The first three riders were quicker the whole weekend but Tom, Nakagami and Folger are not far. The objective remains the same, to stay with a good group and I know that my fitness level will be an advantage on this demanding circuit."
Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten, 27th) "I have almost nothing to say, I give it everything, I don't have anything spare but it does not work. I miss a braking mark, I hit neutral, I feel like I'm attacking but I'm moving backwards. I don't know what else to add. Good night and tomorrow will be better."
