Tom Lüthi (3rd) – first row in Assen
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) reminds us with a big smile: “We are in Assen and the conditions here can change every hour”. Third in the qualifying session for the Dutch Grand Prix this Sunday – note the race will be last on the MotoGP agenda tomorrow at 14:30 CET – the Swiss rider and his colleagues had an eventful day, to say the least. Everything kicked off with the third free practice session in the morning in heavy rain before the track almost dried for the qualifying session that was interrupted following Italian Lorenzo Baldassari’s crash. The day was positive for Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), who was only 1,1 seconds behind the pole man and will start from the 20th position on the grid. This Saturday was more difficult for his Spanish team mate Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten), who had two crashes – one in the wet this morning and one in the qualifying session in the afternoon. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of the two Swiss teams, sums up the day: “Nice front row start for Tom especially because I think we experienced all four seasons in one day today, from rain to heat and wet track to dry. This is Assen as we know it and I have to stress once again that Tom and his team did an excellent job. The race is looking very promising. Today was Jesko’s best day in a long time, although he is still missing a little something to do a perfect lap. He still needs to improve when he is behind someone. For Iker it was a lot more difficult. Yesterday was his first time in Assen and he was immediately doing well but today he was trying to push too much and here you pay the price.”
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 3rd):
“Today was interesting, in fact, it is great to be on the front row because this morning in the wet I was not comfortable. The bike kept trying to kick me off and I felt like I was taking part in a rodeo show. We worked between the two sessions and managed to do the job in qualifying, although there are still questions to be answered. And it’s not just me but we think that because the grip is not very good, the tyres go very quickly. It is really difficult to do more than seven or eight very fast laps. And the race has 24. Do we need to save tyres? And in which moment during the race? This will be the key and I do not have the answer to this tonight because we suspect the weather conditions will change once again tomorrow. We will be happy if it’s a bit warmer.”
Assen (Netherlands). Moto2 Dutch GP, qualifying: 1. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), 1’38.468 (166.000 km/h); 2. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), +0.101; 3. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), +0.115; 4. Oliveira (POR, KTM), +0.147; 5. Quartararo (FRA, Kalex), +0.428; 6. Siméon (BEL, Kalex), +0.463; 7. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), +0.466; 8. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), +0.470; 9. Schrötter (GER, Suter), +0.497; 10. A. Pons (SPA, Kalex), +0.668; 11. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), +0.689. Then: 20. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), +1.124; 27. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), +2.886. 31 classified.
