Two podiums in a row: Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) has never before started a world championship season in such a solid way.
Two weeks after his second place acquired in Qatar, the Swiss rider placed third in the Argentine Moto2 GP, taking advantage of Alex Marquez's fall on the last lap. The race was won, as in Doha, by the Italian Franco Morbidelli, who now leads Thomas Lüthi by 14 points at the top of the championship. Qualified brilliantly with the fifth fastest time in practice, Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) made a very good start, before losing places in the first laps. He then came back well, to score the three points for thirteenth place.
The balance sheet of Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of CGBM Evolution, which fields the two Swiss teams in the GP: “Tom's race was not easy; from the first laps, he understood that he would not be able to follow the first three, so he did his job perfectly, like the great professional that he is. We will of course talk about a “happy” podium since he took advantage of Alex Marquez's fall on the last lap, but we know that the goal of the race is first and foremost to cross the line. In the end, after a complicated weekend, we scored big points and strengthened our position in the championship, that's positive. Jesko Raffin gave us immense pleasure on Saturday during qualifying; his start was good, this time he got inside, but it was in the second corner that he perhaps did not dare to be respected enough. He then lost a lot of places, with a rear tire which heated up and whose pressure increased. He finished better than he started, thus reinforcing the impression left in Qatar.”
They said…
Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten, 3rd):
“Today my real level was fourth place, but I know the rules of the race and so does Alex Marquez, so I'm not going to be sad about this podium. Very quickly, I understood that I would not be able to keep up with the pace of the first three; I held on to Oliveira for a moment, but lost contact while saving a dangerous situation in the last corner. I narrowly avoided a nice highside! Getting on the podium after such a difficult weekend and race is a good result. As I quickly found myself alone on the track, I was able to observe my main opponents from more or less distance and I learned a lot of things. It’s a good start to the championship, but we still have to work more to find the half-second that I missed from the first tests compared to Morbidelli.” ers tests compared to Morbidelli.
Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten, 13th):
“Scoring points in the first two GPs is good, but I admit that I hoped for better. My departure wasn't bad. Unfortunately, very quickly, I experienced a technical problem with the rear tire, which took too much pressure; in the fast curves of this circuit, it was of course very penalizing and it is for this reason that I found myself in the group which fought for fifteenth place. I managed one or two overtakes, but not enough. Too bad, because we could have been further ahead, when we noticed that I finished the race barely two seconds behind fifth place. We have to stay positive, take this energy with me to Texas and above all say a huge thank you to the team, who did another fantastic job.”
Termas de Río Hondo (Arg). Argentine GP Moto2: 1. Morbidelli (ITA, Kalex), 23 laps, 39'50.036 (166.400 km/h); 2. Oliveira (POR, KTM), at 1.683; 3. Lüthi (SWI, Kalex, carXpert Interwetten), at 10.551; 4. Baldassari (ITA, Kalex), at 15.557; 5. Virgo (SPA, Tech 3), at 24.527; 6. Corsi (ITA, Speed Up), at 24.783; 7. Bagnaia (ITA, Kalex), at 24.965; 8. Cortese (GER, Suter), at 25.156; 9. B. Binder (RSA, KTM), at 25.622; 10. Syahrin (MAL, Kalex), at 25.933; 11. Schrötter (GER, Suter), at 26.139; 12. Marini (ITA, Kalex), at 26.456; 13. Raffin (SWI, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), at 26.697; 14. Aegerter (SWI, Suter), at 27.461; 15. Navarro (SPA, Kalex), at 27.628. Then: 18. Simón (SPA, Kalex, Garage Plus Interwetten), at 39.297. 25 classified.
World Championship (2/18): 1. Morbidelli, 50 points; 2. Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten), 36; 3. Oliveira, 33; 4. Baldassari, 21; 5. Virgo, 18; 6. Nakagami (JPN, Kalex), 16; 7.Marini, 14; 8. Bagnaia, 13; 9. A. Marquez (SPA, Kalex), 11; 10. Corsi, 10. Then: 14. Aegerter, 7; 18. Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), 5. 21 classified.