Never before have we ridden so fast in Moto2 on the Andalusian circuit of Jerez de la Frontera on a GP weekend: on this first day of testing for the Spanish GP on Sunday, the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami set the time reference of the Spanish route.
Illustration of the intensity of the fight: the first sixteen of the provisional hierarchy find themselves in less than a second. Among them, Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten, 5th) and Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten, 8th).
If Tom made "the" rescue of the day and impressed with his pace during the afternoon session, "Domi" was unable to avoid two falls, without consequences for him. 27th in today's ranking, Friborg Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten) lost barely more than 2 seconds on the absolute best time.
Review of this first day on European soil with the boss of the Swiss structure, Frédéric Corminboeuf: “This day was strange, due to the very different behavior of the two types of tires at our disposal; in these conditions, it is difficult to fine-tune the bike for the race: to set a time, that matters, but we still have work to do to go the distance. Tom 5th, Dominique 8th, we are in the mix, in the good group, we must sleep on it and find the best solutions tomorrow Saturday. Tom is half a second off, but his pace isn't bad compared to several others. Dominique was unable to avoid two small falls from the front, without harm to him, but he proved once again that his "fighter" spirit was still just as developed, by immediately returning to the track and riding just as immediately. quickly. It's positive for Sunday's race and the goal, for him, is to achieve a big qualification to be able to start from one of the front rows, in order to hang on to the best. Robin continued the momentum from his start to the Austin race, until this fall for which he could not be held responsible. In the first two sectors, he only lost 2 tenths on the best times, he must now find the solution in the next two sectors and succeed in a benchmark race. He needs it, and I am convinced that when it is there, something will really click. »
They said…
Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten, 5th) “The ground temperatures were completely different between this morning and this afternoon. At the start of the day, we focused on one tire, then the other this afternoon. I quickly found myself in the good group, the pace is not bad, even if it will not be easy to maintain such a level over the length of the race if it is this hot on Sunday. I had a big scare, I managed to recover from the situation by first helping myself with my knee, then my elbow. It was hot and when I returned to the pits, my guys thanked me for saving them a lot of work. The goal? The podium. I'm 4 points off the lead in the championship, it's a race not to be missed. »
Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten, 8th) “We knew before we started driving that one of the tires would work much better than the other, and that’s the case. Those who used the vouchers this morning gave us a full second, but the situation was balanced this afternoon. Now all that remains is to work on the distance. I had two small crashes, losing the front in turns 1 and 2, so not in fast places. I still have to find the limit, but the general outcome of the day is rather positive; as we tested five days here this winter, we had a basis to work from and it's always nice to be among the top ten on the first day. »
Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten, 27th) “On returning to Switzerland after Texas, and before heading to the island of Majorca where, with Dominique, we covered 600 kilometers by bike in a week, I was passed checks to the hospital, to make sure everything was in order with my left hand, which still remains swollen. In fact, the biggest problem was with the triceps, which had become almost as big… as a thigh! No more worries from now on, this first day is rather interesting, on a circuit where I have too often experienced big problems. Compared to Tom Lüthi, I only lost 2 tenths in the first two intermediate sectors; It's after that that things get worse, in the fast curves where I have a lot of trouble keeping the right trajectory. We need to work on this point. »
