Superb 17th for Iker Lecuona, Mulhauser lacks confidence
Two seconds ahead of everyone and 3,154 ahead of Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten): the gap the current Moto2 World Champion managed to maintain during the qualifying practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang is incredible. "Hats off to him," smiled Lüthi, who seems to be the only one who can delay the coronation of the Frenchman (Alex Rins from Spain is third in the title fight and is only 23rd on the grid). Zarco and his team managed the difficult conditions to the T on a track that was drying; some even played poker with slick rear tyres at the end of the session. Lüthi was far off in the first half of the qualifying - he was even in 19th position at one stage! - but he managed to respond to qualify in the middle of the second row. Surprise of the day in the team carXpert Interwetten was young Iker Lecuona (16 years old), who qualified 17th, while Robin Mulhauser had to settle for the last position in this difficult session. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, the company that owns the two Swiss teams, comments: "Today's qualifying was tricky and we do not really like mixed conditions. Tom saved the situation with a second row start, it is good for his confidence although I have to congratulate Johann Zarco for his incredible pole. Iker did really well today, although I reprimanded him after the chequered flag - we signalled him twice to pit in. We decided to try slick rear tyre with him but he didn't see the board. It is a pity. We had the same idea for Robin but he did not feel confident enough to do it."
They said...
Iker Lecuona (carXpert Interwetten, 17th): "It was a good qualifying session. I started carefully before increasing my pace at the end. I feel a lot better in the rain in Malaysia than last week in Australia. Then the track started to dry and I was stuck at one point during the session, we made some small changes and I went out again. I am sorry to my team for not seeing the pit board; I think I was looking at Tom's board by accident! Now the race. I am looking forward and my objective is simple: I want to finish!"
Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten, 28th): "The conditions were difficult as yesterday. We tried two or three things this morning in terms of my set-up but we cannot understand which direction we are going in only a few laps. I struggled to adapt to the dry track in the afternoon; I started to feel a bit more relaxed when it was too late. It looks like it's going to rain tomorrow so it will be completely different for everyone. For me, it can only go better than today."
