It was with Tom Lüthi brimming with enthusiasm that his technical manager Gilles Bigot began the off-season testing. But excess enthusiasm sometimes leads to a few untimely falls which no longer give the rider confidence, nor facilitate the development of the 2017 Kalex. It is this long journey, dotted with strong emotions and a few bruises, what Gilles tells us here, who had other adventures in 1999 when he managed the technical part of the 500NSR of Alex Criville, World Champion that year, for the HRC.
Tom Lüthi, the CarXpert Interwetten team and you experienced ups and downs during winter testing in Valencia, Jerez and Qatar, with seven falls in total, some of which were very violent and difficult to explain at the time. What was the reason for this difficult period?
“Yes, quite laborious tests, Valencia to start with two falls in 5 laps on the first day rather because of excess enthusiasm. The next day, it was much better since Tom set a time similar to that of Takaaki Nakagami. So confidence returned, but then in Jerez again, Tom fell again and doubt set in.
“It is very tense so the feedback on the bike is less good and we get a little lost in terms of tuning. And he relapses, he immediately thinks that the 2016 version was much better because of course he remembers the end of the season where he felt so good on his bike.
“When a rider has a very good end to the season, it means that he has reached a very good level of riding and that he has excellent reflexes to control his machine, he dominates it and he is in perfect harmony with her. When he begins his new season, he does so with great enthusiasm.
“He expects to end up with similar sensations, except that between the last event and the first practice session the time has had its effect and these sensations are no longer there. So you have to start the process again, ride and ride again. Tom has to go fast to get the feeling and he may have been a little too impatient.
Has the fact that the winter tests are taking place without the final engines or tires complicated things, since each driver has different equipment, resulting in difficult comparisons?
“No, a very large number of teams like us buy end-of-life engines (used in GP) from Externpro. It is perhaps only in terms of tires that some teams play a little, but overall it has become quite homogeneous, especially this year. »
Was there any worry within your team when you arrived in Qatar, fearing that the sky would fall on your heads once again?
“Not really, because Tom hadn't lost his speed and we decided to start the Qatar test with the 2016 chassis to try to give him a little more confidence with the bike he had had success with and also to understand better, except that the weather shortened the test sessions, hence there was no time to compare the two chassis.
“So we decided to continue with the 2016 chassis and do the GP with it, and with another crash due to the wind, the bike rolled over and hit the front hard during the second practice session! The fork resisted, the triple clamps too, but it was the chassis which absorbed the shock and that was the end of the 2016 chassis because we only had one. We continued with the 2017 chassis, I had to convince him that everything was going to be okay.
Tom achieved the tenth time in the Jerez tests at the beginning of March (0.5 behind Nakagami), then the sixth (0.7 behind Nakagami) in those in Qatar before the Grand Prix. Was that reassuring?
“Yes, but Tom's speed was not to be questioned, it was more consistency over long runs that we were looking for.
During the GP, Tom was the only one to oppose Franco Morbidelli at the start of the race and he finished second. Was it a relief, a newfound confidence, and a display of title contention?
“Finally being able to race was beneficial for Tom because he had to put aside his fears and focus on the race, despite the lack of time to gain confidence with the 2017 chassis (the third free session and the warm up only ) and a small lack in terms of settings.
“I think he managed his race really well. He was missing 2 or 3 tenths to compete with Franco Morbidelli. If he had wanted to fight, he would have had to take too big risks, so he secured the podium and that did him good. Thinking about the title now is too early, we will have to be consistent and win races before talking about it. »
Tom Lüthi and his team. Gilles is second from the right. Photos CARXPERT INTERWETTEN.
