A mixed day for Tom Lüthi
The first day of free practice for the French Grand Prix on the circuit Bugatti in Le Mans took place under difficult weather conditions; while the track was almost dry at the end of the morning’s session, it was completely wet in the afternoon during the second session that allowed Tom Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) to occupy a 10th position. In the combined classification, the Swiss rider finished 17th overall this Friday, four positions ahead of young up-and-coming Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten) from Spain. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of the two Swiss teams, sums up the day: “The first day was marked by changing weather conditions with a provisional result that does not worry me; with Tom I am confident for the rest of the weekend, he has already won four times on this circuit. We still need to find a solution to give him a better bike so he feels more comfortable. Iker had a really good session this morning; unfortunately this afternoon he had a high-speed crash. Luckily he is not injured, although he was sliding several meters on his back. As for Jesko Raffin, who has recovered from the flu that made him ko in Jerez, his day was more difficult. He wasn’t able to relax. However, I am also sure that he will do better on Saturday and Sunday.”
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 17th):
“The situation is better than what the numbers say. In fact, this morning I made an unnecessary stop and since the temperature was still low, I did not manage to heat the rear tyre enough at the end of my run. So I am not worried. This afternoon in the wet I had an interesting feeling; the grip of the new surface is really good, I was immediately able to find a good pace before I encountered the same problems we had in Jerez two weeks ago. It is a set-up problem and we are going to find a solution.”
GP of Le Mans, Moto2, first free practice day: 1. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), 1’38.158 (153.400 km/h); 2. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), + 0.011; 3. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), + 0.157; 4. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.205; 5. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), + 0.304; 6. Vierge (SPA, Tech 3), + 0.351; 7. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 0.387; 8. Corsi (ITA, Speed Up), + 0.582; 9. Marini (ITA, Kalex), + 0.589; 10. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), + 0.609. Further: 17. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 0.963; 21. Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.257; 23. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 1.298. 32 classified.
