Tom Lüthi (12th) on row four
No miracle happened on Saturday in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) for Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), who already struggled on the Andalusian circuit on Friday (first day of free practice) and during the test at the beginning of March. The currently second man of the provisional Moto2 World Championship classification secured a fourth row start with a twelfth fastest time. Seriously affected by a flu on Friday, Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) was classified 26th in qualifying, four positions ahead of his team mate, young Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten) from Spain, who is still affected by the injuries sustained in the IRTA test in early March. Given the circumstances, one can imagine that the impression of Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, company that aligns the two teams on the Moto2 grid, will be mixed: “This is not our best Saturday. We had the same problems as in the test. We tried many different things and in Tom’s last run we could see some interesting things while the track was becoming more and more slow. Our rider saved the situation, he is a professional. We will keep working tonight and tomorrow in warm-up so that he can ride and push the way he wants in the race. Jesko’s health condition improved a bit but he still lacks power and strength; in these circumstances, it is difficult when you are 100%, let alone when you are at 60-70%! Jesko has courage, he wants to give it everything. As for Iker, he had a solid day, despite a small crash. However, his left arm is very painful. He will start tomorrow but when his arm gets too sore, he will stop.”
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 12th): “Compared to the fastest, I am losing a bit everywhere – in corner entries as well as on the exit. We spend the day trying different things on the bike, so I lost quite a lot of time in the box. The direction we took in my last run seems interesting, although I did not have enough time to confirm it with a couple more laps. Everything other than the gap – one second – is still too important; I was in 20th position for a long time and did what I could to secure at least a fourth row start. However, I am definitely not happy today.”
Jerez de la Frontera (Esp). GP of Spain Moto2, Qualification: 1. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 1’42.080 (248.900 km/h); 2. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), + 0.046; 3. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 0.232; 4. Oliveira (POR, KTM), + 0.329; 5. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.518; 6. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), + 0.624; 7. Vierge (SPA, Tech 3), + 0.683; 8. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), + 0.754; 9. Schrötter (GER, Suter), + 0.790; 10. A. Pons (SPA, Kalex), + 0.823. Further: 12. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 0.985; 26. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.712; 30. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 2.115. 32 classified.
