Aegerter in a (very) good group, Mulhauser improves
The winner of the first Grand Prix of the 2016 season two weeks ago in Qatar, Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten) was ninth fastest on the opening day of free practice for the Grand Prix of Argentina, which will take place on Sunday on the circuit of Termas de Rio Hondó. Fighting against extreme heat and on a dirty track, the world championship leader improved throughout the day after a small trouble at the beginning of the second session, where he lost the fuel cap and was splashed by petrol. Fifth in Doha, Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten) is not far off his team mate (11th position), while Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten) is working on his riding style a lot. The boss of CGBM Evolution, the company owning the two Swiss teams, Frédéric Corminboeuf, draws a positive conclusion today: "The track was very specific today, which was reflected in the lap times in all three categories (in MotoGP they were almost 4 seconds off the lap record!). It was therefore not necessary to get fed up, knowing that tomorrow should be cooler, which should suit us better. Tom is very fast in the first three sectors and loses too much in the last one. We are working on this point with him. Dominique's day was interesting, it confirmed that he is making steps forward with his team, who tries to give him even more comfortable bike. Robin battled to get started, he finished the two sessions better than he started them. As I said earlier, I am sure that with a lower temperature and more grip, the scenario could change a lot on Saturday."
They said...
Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten 11th) "The lap times are not improving although I have the impression that the grip is not that bad. We are missing traction and as soon as we leave the ideal line and there is still not enough rubber, it becomes very difficult. It is not a bad start for me, I am in a good group and my objective is to stay there the whole weekend. I don't want to be more than a second off the pole in qualifying, like in Qatar two weeks ago."
Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten, 28th) "I did many laps with the hard tyres. We spoke a lot in the last two weeks and we concluded that in Qatar I was pushing too much on the front - like here last year - and it did not work. I am working on my riding style to improve there and at the end of the session, when we used the softer tyres which worked a lot better, I was two seconds faster. I am still far off but today I have a better impression than what the classification says. I enjoyed being on the bike for the first time this season."
