Lecuona and Mulhauser less than 1,5 seconds off the pole
Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten), who was impressive the whole day, will start tomorrow, Sunday, the last Grand Prix of the 2016 world championship in Valencia from the middle of the front row of the grid. He was beaten by 6 thousands of a second by the now double world champion of this class, Johann Zarco from France. Tom will also have Franco Morbidelli by his side, as the three have been the men dominating the final stages of this superb season. This put into numbers: Zarco, Lüthi and Morbidelli, all three of them, have beaten the record of the circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste that was previously held by Pol Espargaró, who is now in MotoGP. In a category where the gaps are always insignificant, the two carXpert Interwetten riders, Iker Lecuona and Robin Mulhauser, were 26th and 27th respectively, less than 1,5 seconds off the pole. The boss of the double Swiss structure, Frédéric Corminboeuf, was happy: "Tom is not on pole but he is on the front row and he has a strong pace, which is essential for the race. The objective remains the same from the beginning of the weekend: to finish the season off strong as well as to begin the next one in this way. Iker is 1,3 seconds off the pole position record, it shows the talent of our new ace; and he does always better in the race than in practice so I am sure that he can have a good race tomorrow. Same for Robin, he has a good pace, the people that have always been supporting him are here and I would like to wish them a nice end to his Moto2 adventure, so the Top-15."
They said...
Iker Lecuona (carXpert Interwetten, 26th): "I was already faster than yesterday from the third lap of the third practice session this morning, which demonstrates that we have found some good solutions. From there I imagined that I would be able to do something nice in qualifying. I tried the hardest tyre that did not work for me so I used the other one again with which I did 28 laps, doing the same lap times, which is interesting for the race. My first world championship points? On this circuit where the gaps are so small, it will be difficult but I will give it everything."
Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten, 27th): "It is frustrating to be 27th but on a circuit like this where the gaps are so small, it is what it is. I have never been so fast here, I gave it everything but it wasn't enough to do the Top-20. In fact, I found that I was losing a lot of time on acceleration, where even with new tyres I did not have rear grip. That said, I am sure that I will be competitive in the race. We can do something nice tomorrow."
