Tom Lüthi (3rd) gets another podium
Two podiums in a row: Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) has never started a world championship season on such a high note. Two weeks after his second position in Qatar, the Swiss rider was classified third in the Moto2 Grand Prix of Argentina, benefiting, however, from the crash of Alex Marquez on the last lap. As in Doha, it was Franco Morbidelli from Italy who won the race and is now leading the championship 14 points ahead of Thomas Lüthi. Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), who qualified in a superb fifth position, had a good start before he lost positions during the first couple of laps. He then made a successful comeback through the field to score three points for a thirteenth position. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, company that aligns the two Swiss teams on the Moto2 grid, sums up the day: “The race was not easy for Tom. He knew from the beginning of the race that he would not be able to keep up with the leading trio. So he did his job really well and professional as always. We will definitely talk about a “lucky” podium because we benefited from Alex Marquez’s crash on the final lap, however, we know that the main objective in the race is to cross the finish line. Overall, after a difficult weekend, we scored a lot of points and consolidated our position in the championship, which is positive. Jesko Raffin made us really happy on Saturday in qualifying; his start was good – this time he kept the inside line – but he did not dare enough in the first two corners. He lost many positions, with a rear tyre that heated up and had an increased pressure as a result. It finished better than it started and he confirmed the good impression he left in Qatar.”
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 3rd):
"I deserved the fourth position today but I know the rules of the game and so does Alex Marquez, which means that I’m not going to be upset about this podium. I understood very quickly that I was not able to follow the pace of the three riders in the front; I closed up on Oliveira for a moment but lost contact saving a moment in the last corner. I only just avoided a little highside! Stepping up on the podium after a difficult weekend and a difficult race is a good result. Since I found myself alone on track fairly quickly, I was able to observe more or less my main opponents and I learned quite a few things. We made a good start to this championship but we still need to work more to find half a second that we were missing from the first practice compared to Morbidelli.”
Termas de Río Hondo (Arg). GP of Argentina, race Moto2: 1. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), 23 tours, 39’50.036 (166.400 km/h); 2. Oliveira (POR, KTM), à 1.683; 3. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), à 10.551; 4. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), à 15.557; 5. Vierge (SPA, Tech 3), à 24.527; 6. Corsi (ITA, Speed Up), à 24.783; 7. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), à 24.965; 8. Cortese (GER, Suter), à 25.156; 9. B. Binder (RSA, KTM), à 25.622; 10. Syahrin (MAL, Kalex), à 25.933; 11. Schrötter (GER, Suter), à 26.139; 12. Marini (ITA, Kalex), à 26.456; 13. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), à 26.697; 14. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), à 27.461; 15. Navarro (SPA, Kalex), à 27.628. Further: 18. Simón (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), à 39.297. 25 classified.
World Championship (2/18): 1. Morbidelli, 50 points; 2. Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), 36; 3. Oliveira, 33; 4. Baldassari, 21; 5. Vierge, 18; 6. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), 16; 7. Marini, 14; 8. Bagnaia, 13; 9. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 11; 10. Corsi, 10. Further: 14. Aegerter, 7; 18. Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), 5. 21 classified.
