Aegerter keeps struggling, Mulhauser crashes
The comeback on the European continent was complicated for the Swiss delegation - comprising five riders - in the Moto2 World Championship. In an extreme heat - track was slower in the afternoon in the second free practice of the day - only Thomas Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) managed to save what he could finishing 12th fastest today, which, however, did not satisfy him. Struggling with a technical problem in the morning, Lüthi was quicker than the remaining Swiss riders, Randy Krummenacher (18th) and his two teammates Dominique Aegerter and Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten), rookie Jesko Raffin was closing the classification with a 30th fastest lap time. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of the CGBM Evolution, which is the owner of Lüthi, Aegerter and Mulhauser's teams said: "Tom is 6 tenths of a second off, which is not a lot. He still has some stability issues mainly on the main straights of the circuit where he is normally very comfortable; I am sure that we will find a solution before the end of the weekend. Robin is pushing, from this morning he improved his personal best lap time on this circuit. Unfortunately he crashed in the afternoon, luckily with no consequences. As for Dominique, we know his current problems: He still lacks feeling with the bike, he is stressed and stiff. In Texas, we had a feeling that in practice we found the old "Domi" from last year, but it's not the case just yet. The testing that we have planned in Aragon next week will be very good for him."
And they said...
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 20th): "This morning it wasn't so bad. We were able to progress at the end of the session. But this afternoon, with an obviously higher temperature, the problems that I've been experiencing since the beginning of the year returned. I have an impression that I keep repeating the same thing all over again: I have no feeling entering corners and when I accelerate again, there is no grip. My riding style lacks smoothness, I am too stiff."
Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 27th): "Jerez has never been my favourite circuit; it is a complex track, very technical. This morning we spent some time setting up my bike, although I was able to ride quicker than I've ever been here very quickly. I was ready for the afternoon's session, although I knew that with the increased temperature the grip would be worse. We tried a few different things at the beginning of the session and when I started to push harder, 25 minutes before the end of the session, I crashed. Nothing happened but because I leaked some fuel the track marshals did not allow me to get back on track."
