In 2017, the carXpert Interwetten team will play the youth card: alongside the Spanish hopeful Iker Lecuona, 16 years old, we will indeed find the Zurich resident Jesko Raffin, 20 years old since June 12. The contract between Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution – the structure which aligns the two Swiss teams in Moto2 – and Jesko Raffin was signed on Saturday in Motegi, as part of the Japanese GP.
Raffin discovered competition at a young age, via the Swiss supermoto championship. Then leaving for Germany, he won the Yamaha R2011 Cup in 6, becoming the youngest champion of this single-make challenge. In 2012, he moved to Spain, even discovered GPs, replacing Randy Krummenacher (injured) in Aragon, Japan, then Malaysia. Third in the Spanish Moto2 championship in 2013, Jesko would dominate this competition in 2014, a coronation which opened the doors to the GPs for him. Notably eighth in the German GP this year, the Zurich native has had a growing season: “We are very happy to welcome Jesko to our team next year”, Explain Frédéric Corminboeuf. “He is only 20 years old, he is a driver who has won numerous races in CEV and for what will be his third full world championship season, we will do everything to help him continue his progress. We have already started to collaborate, in particular by setting initial training objectives this winter, since Jesko is tall (181 cm), therefore “heavy” (73 kg). »
The whole team is looking forward to working with two such young drivers, since the Spaniard Iker Lecuona, who we discovered last year, will also be part of our team. He is a young talent, who will, I am sure, surprise us. For him as for us, it is a formidable challenge that awaits us, since we know that many observers are interested in Iker. He must not burn his wings, but I feel that he can pull off some very nice surprises very quickly,” adds the boss.
In Japan, the two current drivers of the carXpert Interwetten team, Robin Mulhauser and Iker Lecuona respectively set the 27th and 28th times in qualifying practice.
