Tom Lüthi (4th) hasn’t said his last word
The two CGBM Evolution riders, Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) and Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) will start next to each other on the second row of the grid for the Grand Prix of Argentina, round two of the 2017 world championship, on Sunday evening – start at 7:20 pm Swiss time. Fourth and fifth respectively, the two team mates successfully managed a very difficult day in terms of weather conditions, with rain making its appearance on the circuit of Thermas de Río Hondo. The conditions were also changing throughout the qualifying session; riders had to use wet tyres before switching to 100% slicks at the end. The team’s result made the whole squad of the boss Frédéric Corminboeuf happy: “This is a superb second row start for our two riders. Tom did a good job again in conditions that are not his favourite; he reminded everyone once again that he is a professional and that he works really well with his chief technician Gilles Bigot, which makes it possible to progress together. Jesko’s session was fantastic; he did his lap times alone, each time he gains a bit more confidence in himself and gets along with his chief technician Julien Maréchal also really well. He listens, he follows and applies information and the advice we give him. And when it works he performs better every day. I can feel that we have a very good chance on Sunday evening in the race,” explained the boss.
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 4th):
"The conditions were very, very tricky. First I was not sure whether to start the session with slick tyres straight away but eventually I decided that it would probably be too risky. It was strange because from the outside we were of the impression that the track was dry but our visors still had big drops on them. We managed the situation well and when I went out for my last run I was quickly able to find a good pace; the second part of the session was really good, I had to be precise but also push very hard. I did my fastest lap on my last lap when the grip was a bit worse again. But it is a good fourth position. I hope the warm-up on Sunday morning is dry because I still need to find some small things to match Morbidelli. However, with Gilles we have some good idea to solve these problems.”
Termas de Río Hondo (Arg). GP of Argentina Moto2, qualifications: 1. Oliveira (POR, KTM), 1’45.616 (163.800 km/h); 2. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), à 0.099; 3. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), à 0.248; 4. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), à 0.374; 5. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), à 0.437; 6. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), à 0.528; 7. Cortese (GER, Suter), à 0.529; 8. Vierge (SPA, Tech 3), à 0.557; 9. Siméon (BEL, Kalex), à 0.581; 10. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), à 0.804. Further: 18. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), à 1.286; 26. Simón (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), à 2.296. 32 classified.
