Tom Lüthi (8th): good outcome for the championship
The weekend was difficult for Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) on the circuit of Jerez de la Frontera. The Spanish Grand Prix, which was disputed in an overwhelming heat, ended with an eighth position for the Swiss rider, who still managed to do a good job in terms of the provisional Moto2 World Championship classification – the man who dominated the first three Grand Prix races of the season, Italian Franco Morbidelli, crashed out of the race. Lüthi now stands 11 points behind the leader of this class, 2 weeks ahead of the French Grand Prix on the circuit Bugatti, in Le Mans. Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), who was struck by a severe flu for a few days, found the strength to finish the race despite the difficult circumstances; he was classified twentieth. As everyone anticipated from yesterday, young Spaniard of the Swiss team, Iker Lecuona (Garage Plus Interwetten) retired from the race after 11 laps due to a painful right arm. The boss of the Swiss structure, Frédéric Corminboeuf explains: “Tom is now 11 points behind the world championship leader, we have benefited from Morbidelli’s bad luck at the end of a weekend that was difficult for us. Unfortunately, we lost quite a lot of time at the beginning of the race before Lüthi found his pace that allowed him to be one of the fastest on track in the second half of this GP. There and then it was too late. He managed to close a gap and fight for a sixth position, he attacked his former teammate Dominique Aegerter but then he had to run wide and he preferred to secure his eight points. Jesko was very tired, he did not have any strength: hats off to him for not having retired from the race. As for Iker, he was in tears when he retired on lap 11, that’s how much he was suffering; he was very clever in stopping and I am sure that good things are ahead of us with him.”
He said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 8th):
“What a difficult weekend. The problems were there in the race just as much as in practice, I simply did not have the required speed. Of course I am disappointed and we need to understand what happened immediately so we can do better in Le Mans. I was on the limit from start to finish, my lap times were the same the whole race, which shows that I was facing a wall. I was not able to overtake. I tried once on Dominique, I made it stick but then had to run wide, it was impossible for me to hold the line. There was nothing in spare, I could not have done more. Then also the group in front wasn’t that far. Of course we got a bit lucky gaining a few points in the championship after a weekend that was not so good. That is the only thing I can take with me to Le Mans.”
Jerez de la Frontera (Esp). GP of Spain, Race Moto2: 1. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 25 laps, 43’24.350 (152.800 km/h); 2. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), + 3.442; 3. Oliveira (POR, KTM), + 4.958; 4. Pasini (ITA, Kalex), + 6.824; 5. Marini (ITA, Kalex), + 6.917; 6. Schrötter (GER, Suter), + 9.561; 7. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), + 10.266; 8. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), + 11.594; 9. Hernandez (COL, Kalex), + 19.212; 10. A. Pons (SPA, Kalex), + 19.293; 11. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), + 19.672; 12. Navarro (JPN, Kalex), + 24.487; 13. Syahrin (MAL, Kalex), + 25.522; 14. Cardus (SPA, KTM), + 26.049; 15. Nagashima (JPN, Kalex), + 26.089. Further: 20. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), + 43.165. Quit: Lecuona (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten). 26 classified.
World Championship (4/18): 1. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), 75 points; 2. Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), 64; 3. Oliveira, 59; 4. A. Marquez, 49; 5. Bagnaia, 33; 6. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), 32; 7. Marini, 31; 8. Aegerter, 27; 9. Baldassari, 26; 10. Vierge (SPA, Tech 3), 25. Further: 21. Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), 5. 25 classified.
