Tom Lüthi on pole position on “his” circuit, Le Mans
The great story continues on the circuit Bugatti in Le Mans for Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), who won his first Grand Prix here (125cc, 2005) and has taken a total of four victories. The Swiss rider grabbed his first pole position this season and twelfth ever, twelve years after the first one of his career – a double sign! He also smashed the lap record of the Le Mans circuit that he established himself last year. Despite a small crash fifteen minutes into the qualifying session when a few drops of rain started to appear, Lüthi was then able to strike back with an impressive pace over a great number of laps. The day was more difficult for the other two riders of team Garage Plus Interwetten: while Jesko Raffin will start from the ninth row of the grid (25th fastest), his teammate Iker Lecuona from Spain was unfortunately not able to take part in qualifying today. This morning during the third free practice session, he could not avoid the bike of one of his rivals crashing in front of him and he broke his right collarbone as a result once again. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, the company that aligns the two Swiss teams on the Moto2 World Championship grid, explains: “I said it on Friday evening: we did not shine in the classification after the first day of free practice but I knew that Tom and his team were capable of raising the bar. And they did it in a spectacular style. Tom is an incredible pro, he perfectly managed the day. He stayed calm and relaxed after the small alarm at the beginning. I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Jesko has not been able to put everything together yet but his pace is not as bad as this, he can score points tomorrow. Regarding Iker, he got really unlucky. This is not his fault at all. This is racing and it is such a pity because his feeling on this new circuit for him was great.”
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 1st):
“I found a good rhythm right from the beginning, although the rear grip wasn’t that great initially. I started to push and the first drops of rain appeared. I only just saw the rain flag but wanted to finish my lap that was already very good. And that’s when I crashed. It was a big slide, rather than a crash, the bike did not suffer a lot and I was able to bring it back to the box for the guys to do the necessary to fix it. I stayed concentrated. When I went out again for my second run, I was confident straight away. I have a great pace and I believe that I’m ready for the race. They always talk about my affection for Le Mans and I have to admit I’m not really sure why I feel so comfortable here. I simply enjoy it and with the new surface it’s even better.”
GP of Le Mans Moto2, Qualification: 1. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), 1’36.548 (156.000 km/h); 2. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), + 0.026; 3. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), + 0.101; 4. Marini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.246; 5. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 0.315; 6. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), + 0.336; 7. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.418; 8. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), + 0.606; 9. Schrötter (GER, Suter), + 0.625; 10. Cortese (GER, Suter), + 0.637. Further: 25. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.431. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), victim of a crash in FP3, will not start the race (broke his collarbone again). 31 classified.
