Tom Lüthi (5th) close to the front in Texas
The fast men of the start of the Moto2 world championship were there again from the opening day of free practice for the Grand Prix of the Americas, on the COTA circuit, close to Austin (Texas). Alex Marquez, the championship leader Morbidelli, Oliveira from Portugal, Schrötter from Germany and Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) were in the Top-5 of the provisional classification. The day started really well in the Swiss camp, Lüthi (3rd) and Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten, 8th) both had an impressive morning session during which the squad managed by Frédéric Corminboeuf was happy to welcome back their Spanish rookie Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten), who had been seriously injured during the tests in Jerez de la Frontera. The afternoon session was a bit more difficult in terms of results, but interesting, especially because Tom Lüthi did his fastest lap time with a tyre that already had more than a race distance on it. The boss, Fred Corminboeuf, concludes: “A solid day. Tom is doing well on a circuit where we know his old serious right arm injury is still a handicap. His pace is already interesting; he is doing his job well. Jesko had a great morning session before suffering physically in the afternoon; after the Grand Prix of Argentina he went to see an osteopath because his pelvis was not perfectly straight. There was more than one centimeter difference between the right and the left side. The doctor put his body back in place but the muscles suffered of course and he had to pass through the mobile clinic between the sessions to get a massage and painkillers. He will be better tomorrow. Finally, we are all very happy to have Iker Lecuona back and he did better than expected. He rode this morning and this afternoon and he will try again on Saturday. The objective is to learn the circuit and enjoy riding again after eight weeks of absolute rest. We will decide together whether he should race on Sunday or not."
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 5th):
“We still have work to do. I am losing too much time in the first sector, where I am not able to use the ideal line. What is positive is that my arm is causing less problems than I feared, which shows that our preparation during the winter break was very good. My final run with used tyres was very interesting, I was able to do solid lap times, balance the bike the way I wanted; this is positive. I am close to the front, although Alex Marquez dominates for the moment. My problems in this famous first sector? As always, it is a mixture: the rider has to progress and the bike has to help him to do so. I am sure that the track will change again tomorrow, it should be less hot and I hope the rain will stay away.”
Austin/COTA (USA). GP of the Americas, first free practice day: 1. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 2’10.601 (151.900 km/h); 2. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), + 0.300; 3. Schrötter (GER, Suter), + 0.305; 4. Oliveira (POR, KTM), + 0.622; 5. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 0.625; 6. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.691; 7. Syahrin (MAL, Kalex), + 0.744; 8. Quartararo (FRAU, Kalex), + 0.770; 9. Cardus (SPA, KTM), +0.842; 10. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), + 0.853. Further: 19. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), +1 1.486; 20. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 1.534; 30. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 3.301. 32 classified.
