Second row start (5th) for Thomas Lüthi in Catalunya
Another day with scorching temperatures on the circuit of Catalunya in Montmeló, a circuit that was modified overnight following the complaints from most riders, who did not quite understand during the first day of practice what has been done here this spring. A new chicane was created following the tragic passing of Luis Salóm last year. This chicane was indeed too narrow and very bumpy for motorcycle racing. After a meeting of the Grand Prix Safety Commission on Friday night, it was decided to proceed with the rest of the weekend using the circuit as modified last year the days following the tragedy - using the “F1” chicane. As a result, Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), who was quite far off yesterday, had to start working from the scratch this morning and together with his technical team managed to bounce back. The second man of the provisional World Championship classification was classified fifth in the qualifying session (he got held up on his final lap). On Sunday at 12:20 (CET) he will start from the middle of the second row of the starting grid. The day was also positive for Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) and Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten), which made the boss of CGBM Evolution, the company that aligns the two Swiss teams on the Moto2 grid, Frédéric Corminboeuf, happy: “Tom and his team did a great job today, which will allow him to start from the second row. This is positive given how difficult things were yesterday and in FP3. We will use the warm-up to find as much consistency as possible to secure another great result for the championship. Jesko unfortunately did not manage to pull all his best sector lap times together on the same lap, but he is improving again. With a good start tomorrow he can fight for the points. Iker still needs a bit of time, although I did expect a bit more from him on a Spanish circuit that he knows well, we cannot forget that he is only 17 years old, he has a lot of pressure and a lot of people here around him. Now I want to see a solid race, which should do him well.”
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 5th):
“The decision to use the circuit we used today is less bad a solution compared to what we had to master yesterday. However, the problem here more generally is really the need to resurface the whole circuit. We made a nice step forward between this morning and the qualifying. My pace is good as in Mugello, although Alex Marquez’s time seems once again difficult to match. On my last lap I had good first two sectors when I caught Baldassari and Axel Pons, who were going slowly in the middle of the circuit. The first objective was to qualify on one of the first two rows, which we did. I am ahead of Morbidelli, which is interesting. I will need to choose a good rear tyre. We have two options, there is no huge difference between the two and perhaps we will need to hold back a bit because that is how one goes quicker and longer here.”
Montmeló (Spain). GP of Catalunya, Qualifying: 1. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 1’49.408 (153.100 km/h); 2. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.107; 3. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), + 0.644; 4. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), + 0.793; 5. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 0.798; 6. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), + 0.863; 7. Oliveira (POR, KTM), + 0.868; 8. Navarro (SPA, Kalex), + 0.938; 9. A. Pons (SPA, Kalex), + 1.007; 10. I. Viñales (SPA, Kalex), + 1.061. Further: 19. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 1.525; 24. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.779; 27. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.951. 32 classified.
