By finishing in second place in the Misano Grand Prix, Tom Lüthi achieved an even better performance in the Championship as his main rival Franco Morbidelli fell. The Swiss driver is now only 9 points behind the Italian of Brazilian origin. With only 5 races left, we took stock with his chief technician Gilles Bigot, who will accompany him next year in MotoGP at Marc VDS.
Gilles, what is your assessment with Tom and your CarXpert Interwetten team after this Misano GP?
“After seeing the numerous crashes during the moto3 race, it was imperative to finish the race and if possible in front of Franco Morbidelli. Franco's fall had a big impact for us because Tom was able to score big points and that brings him closer to the championship.
Tom fell during the warm up. What were the consequences of this fall?
“The warm up was supposed to serve as a warm-up for the race and to collect data to improve the settings of our bike in the wet, by crashing on the 2nd lap we only had one fast lap. Although it was interesting we needed several laps at a higher pace to better appreciate the behavior of the bike. This was also a warning for Tom for the race, he realized that it was very easy to make a mistake.
While Marc Marquez went after Danilo Petrucci at the end of the race, Tom did not attack Dominique Aegerter. For what ?
“Marc Marquez has always taken risks, it’s his DNA. As always, we heard some remarks like "Luthi is being a grocer", the people who made these remarks would also have been the first to criticize him if he had crashed while trying to win the race (like when he fell at the Sachsenring).
The opportunity to fight for a world championship title in motorcycle sport doesn't come every year, so when you find yourself in this position you have to show a certain amount of wisdom.
The Misano circuit is really different from the others, even in the dry. What are its particularities?
“Braking well to be able to turn, for Moto2 since we used harder rear tires in Misano it has become more complicated because we need the grip of the rear tire to help us brake the bike, without electronic assistance and a very narrow clutch adjustment window. The lack of grip at the rear means that it pushes the front when braking, it is more difficult to stop the bike and we lose passing speed in the different corners of the circuit. So you have to try to find mechanical rear grip by changing the geometry while keeping the bike fairly manageable. We noticed the opposite effect by fitting the rain tires, too much grip at the rear and not enough at the front which was seen during the race, it is also a bit the consequences of the fall of the warm-up where we lacked information. The changes made in the box for the race and then on the starting grid went in the right direction but not enough to counter Dominique Aegerter when braking.
What will be your tactics, Tom, you and the team, for the last 5 Grands Prix?
“With 5 races remaining in the championship it's difficult to have a tactic because there are still 125 points at stake. First of all finish the remaining 5 races, Franco Morbidelli has been leading the championship since the start of the season, it is obvious that we have to win races to be able to counter him and try to put pressure on him and get ahead of him, although Tom has already made 10 podiums in 13 races we must recognize that we are often missing a little something to go after Franco who gave him 8 podiums including 7 victories, so we must continue to work to be more efficient. »
Photos © CarXpert Interwetten
