Tom Lüthi (11th) dissappointed after a wet race in Japan
The race in Motegi was a rainy one. Tom Lüthi (CarXpert Interwetten) has finished the Grand Prix of Japan on the 11th rank. He has consequently lost another three points to current world leader Franco Morbidelli. The point gap is at 19 right now, however, 75 points are still available in the last three races. Due to a technical problem during the warm-up for the Moto3, there was a unplanned break of two hours. As a result, the Moto2 race was shortened. Tom Lüthi had an impressive start and managed to land on the 7th position, an improvement of six places. Unfortunately, he kept losing the touch with the top. Considering his grip and sight problems, he’s still happy about the five Grand Prix points. The race was the first one overseas.
Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten) ranked 17th at the end. He merely lacked six seconds to get to a point scoring position. Meanwhile, his teammate Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) struggled with sight problems in the fog just like Lüthi. The fog even got into his visor.
The team will continue its journey to Australia on Tuesday morning. The next world cup race will be held on the circuit Philip Island.
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 11.):
«There’s not a lot to say except that I’m extremely disappointed. On Friday, I still felt comfortable to race in the rain despite having two slight crashes. Even though my start was good today, I had trouble to adjust my rhythm with the ones from the top. I almost crashed several times, was driving at my complete limit and I couldn’t push anymore. Moreover, I had some problems with my visor. A weekend to forget. Maybe we tried too many things. We need to reset everything and start anew in Philip Island. The most important thing is to remember that the world championship isn’t lost yet with a point gap of 24 points.”
Motegi (Japan). GP of Japan Moto2: 1. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 15 laps, 32’08.901 (134.400 km/h); 2. Vierge (SPA, Tech 3), + 1.465; 3. Syahrin (MAL, Kalex), + 3.134; 4. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), + 5.415; 5. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 5.618; 6. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), + 6.163; 7. Oliveira (POR, KTM), + 7.597; 8. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), + 11.400; 9. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 11.572; 10. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), + 14.310; 11. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 26.571; 12. R. Gardner (AUS, Tech 3), + 30.183; 13. Schrötter (GER, Suter), + 30.597; 14. Enokido (JPN, Kalex), + 32.037; 15. Tar. MacKenzie (GBR, Suter), + 35.252. Further: 17. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 40.934; 25. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 53.699. 28 classified.
World Championship (15/18): 1. Morbidelli, 256 points; 2. Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), 237; 3. A. Marquez, 180; 4. Oliveira, 166; 5. Bagnaia, 143; 6. Pasini, 135; 7. Nakagami, 127; 8. Aegerter, 99; 9. Corsi (ITA, Speed Up), 95; 10. Syahrin, 82. Further: 24. Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), 11. 35 classified.
*only five hours after the finish of the JapanGP it has been published, that Tom Lüthi inherits Dominique Aegerters victory of Misano because of Aegerter shall have used a liquid which was not allowed in the Moto2 Championship.
