Tom Lüthi (5th) on the second row in Texas
On Sunday evening (start at 19:20 Swiss time), Tom Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) will start the Grand Prix of the Americas on the circuit COTA close to Austin from the middle of the second row. The second man of the provisional world championship classification after two races, the Swiss rider was one of the five riders to break into the 2’09 per lap on this difficult circuit in Texas. He did extremely well in his first run at the start of the qualifying session, where he was in second position, before a number of small issues stopped his progress to secure a front row start. Twenty-fifth Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) did not find a way to a clear lap, however, his best sector times show that he will be fighting for the points in the race. Finally, as anticipated Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten) took part in the third free practice session on Saturday and the beginning of the qualifying session. For the obvious reasons of safety – Iker went through a period of eight weeks of complete rest following his accident during the IRTA test in Jerez de la Frontera in early March – the young Spaniard will not race on Sunday.
The boss of CGBM Evolution, the company that aligns the two Swiss teams on the Moto2 World Championship grid, Frédéric Corminboeuf explains: “It is a positive second row start for Tom as we know this circuit is difficult for him. The race will be long and two riders who are in the front should not have the pace to run with the leaders. It will be up to Tom to do his job as he knows best to stay with the two favourites, Morbidelli and Alex Marquez, for as long as possible. We will continue our work in the warm-up session to make him feel even more comfortable on the bike. Unfortunately, Jesko did not manage to put everything together for one lap; the potential he has demonstrated should reflect a 15th rather than a 25th position. I am sure he will show that in the race, scoring points again. As for Iker, he has already done more than we expected; after two days on track, his left arm obviously hurts and now he is going to rest to come back in Jerez de la Frontera,” said the manager from Fribourg.
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 5th):
“My first run was excellent, it was cool, I felt good and I found a solution for the first part of the circuit. The lap times I was doing from lap 7 I was sure that I would be able to improve with new tyres because I made a few small mistakes. Unfortunately, when I went out again it became more difficult, the front had a tendency to leave the perfect line again and that is why I was disappointed when I came back in. That said, my starting position is not bad for the race, we will still try some small things in the warm up tomorrow morning and then the objective will be to get a good start and stick with the leading group.”
Austin/COTA (USA). GP of the Americas, Qualifying Moto2: 1. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), 2’09.379 (153.400 km/h); 2. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.167; 3. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), + 0.242; 4. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), + 0.581; 5. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 0.601; 6. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 0.922; 7. Oliveira (POR, KTM), + 0.938; 8. Siméon (BEL, Kalex), + 0.979; 9. Cortese (GER, Suter), + 0.987; 10. Cardus (SPA, KTM), + 1.038. Further: 25. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.633; 30. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 3.259 (*). 32 classified.
(*): Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), will not take part in Sunday’s Race.
