For this fourth meeting of the season, Tom Luthi finds a Jerez route which has already honored no less than 30 meetings on the Grand Prix calendar. A consistency that began in 1987, and which makes this circuit the second most visited site in history after Assen.
Sure, but the scene of the Spanish Grand Prix isn't really CarXpert driver's favorite gaming era. During the previous edition, the Swiss qualified sixth and was able to gain an additional place in the race. To date, the Swiss driver has never done better than second on this Jerez track.
Less than Tom Luthi, Simone Courses et Dominique Aegerter are the only drivers to have already appeared on the podium during this event. A deadline that the runner-up in the championship will have to tackle with determination after coming second on the Austin track, a performance synonymous with his 38th podium in Moto2.
The relative disenchantment between the Helvetian and the Spanish route was confirmed during the first day which only ended in a modest fourteenth place. Tom encountered the same problems as the tests carried out during the off-season. He does not find the right feeling with the front wheel so the objective for the rest of the events will be to find solutions to allow the driver to practice his art at the top.
«This is the Moto2 class in all its glory " commented Tom Luthi taking stock of his Friday marked by rain in the morning and improved conditions in the afternoon. “Small problems and we already find ourselves 14th in the provisional hierarchy. We haven't yet arrived at the set-up I want. The good news of the day is that I encountered the same problems this morning in the rain as this afternoon.”
“We must continue to work with Gilles, my engineer, because here, I am 8 tenths from pole and, at the limit. After Texas, I objectively didn't think that the difference would be that big, but once again, it's Sunday, in the race, that we will have to have the best bike, so that I can fight as I wish, where I hear it »
Unfortunately, the agreement was not reached. Tom was only able to save a place on the fourth row of the grid, with the twelfth time. The difficulties already experienced during the winter tests were revealed again and it was only in the last run that the CarXpert driver limited the damage, while the track was less and less fast. The work will be required in the evening and tomorrow, during the warm-up, to obtain a bike allowing its rider to ride and attack as he wishes in the race.
« Compared to the best, I lose almost everywhere, when entering corners, as well as when accelerating. » regrets the one who will have to at least defend his second place in the championship. “ We spent the day trying different things on the bike, so I wasted a lot of time at my stand. But the route we took in my last run seems interesting to me, even if I didn't have enough time to confirm it over several laps. Still, the gap – one second – is far too large; stuck in twentieth position for a long time, I did what was necessary to get back to fourth row, but I am definitely not happy with my day »
The Andalusian race was, in fact, going to be tricky for the Swiss. Contested in oppressive heat, it still turned out in favor of a CarXpert driver who knew how to keep his back by making the most of the racing circumstances which got the better of the leader of the world championship Franco Morbidelli. Although only eighth, Tom leaves Jerez with the satisfaction of a job well done since he is now 11 points behind the leader in the title race. All this, two weeks before the French GP, on a Bugatti circuit, at Le Mans, which he particularly appreciates.
