Newsletter, D. Aegerter, R. Mulhauser, Jerez, Top news

Aegerter minimises the gap, Mulhauser struggles in Jerez

02.05.2015

The temperature has been rising here in Andalusia, the Spanish region that hosts the first European World Championship Grand Prix of the season this Sunday in Jerez de la Frontera (32 degrees air temperature, 49 degrees in the sun during the Moto2 qualifying practice). The day was positive today for the Swiss delegation, especially for Thomas Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Intwerwetten), 2nd in the morning final free practice and fourth in the qualifying; he will start the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday at 12:20 from the second row of the starting grid. Another good surprise came from Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten), who finished 16th and notably decreased the gap that separates him from the leaders. The remaining Swiss riders, including Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten), are a bit further down the field but they know that in these extreme conditions that have been predicted for tomorrow, Sunday, consistency will be the key to success. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, the company owning the two main Swiss teams summarised the day in the following words: "Tom is in the game, in a group where the gaps are insignificant; this fourth position is a confirmation of the first row start that he got in Argentina. With him we are aiming in the right direction. The temperature should be a bit lower tomorrow in the race - the lights will go off at 12:20 - while the qualifying session took place in the middle of the afternoon this Saturday, so our riders should not struggle with used tires. Dominique made progress, the gap is not more than 8 tenths of a second, he is a fighter and if he has a good start like usual, he has what it takes to stay with a good group. Robin has struggled a bit more on this circuit; he puts a lot of pressure on himself to try to attain the fixed objective too quickly - the points - and he is still very tense on the bike."

And they said...

Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 16th ): "Lap time wise we have improved a bit this afternoon but we cannot be overexcited because I only managed to do one quick lap and I'm still experiencing a lot of problems to find some consistency in my performance. The rear tire loses grip very quickly and I struggled, like many others, with the front as well, at the end of the session. In short, I can tell now that the race is not going to be easy. We have to go step by step. Personally I have to change my style more and to do that I have to be less tense."

Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 28th ): "Honestly, I am not mastering this circuit of Jerez. I crashed yesterday and crashed again this morning. I had an old tire and when I put a new tire and increased my pace, I lost the front on the second lap. I'm really hitting the wall here; I have no consistency on this circuit. The only hope is that I am usually better in the race than in practice."