Aegerter (8th) after a great start, Mulhauser scores his first point in 2016
Thomas Lüthi (Garage Plus Interwetten) confirmed his fourth position in the provisional Moto2 World Championship classification, finishing sixth in the eventful (many riders crashing out) Spanish Grand Prix on the circuit of Jerez de la Frontera. After a good start, Tom lost contact on the exit of the first corner after a big "high side" that he miraculously managed to save. Sixth after the chequered flag, he cruised to a solid result but was not happy with his weekend. Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten), who finished in eighth position, was fighting hard to secure these precious championship points, while his team mate Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten) scored his first point this season finishing in fifteenth position. This is the second time in his career that he was classified in the Top-15. Divided between the potential of his two men and the disappointment, having concluded that neither Lüthi nor Aegerter were in a position to fight for the podium in this race, the boss Frédéric Corminboeuf draws a conclusion after the weekend in Andalusia: "Our three riders all finished in the points in this, rather particular, race. The fog this morning, that forced the organisers to delay the warm-up session a bit, had an impact on the already old asphalt of the circuit of Jerez. The number of crashes proves that. The key was to stay on, which is what they did and Robin even had a really solid beginning of the race, before he started to struggle a bit more. Tom showed us his extraordinary skills, saving a situation that could have ended really bad. Maybe he was a bit lucky but it was also due to his talent. Unfortunately the race barely started at that point and the damage was already done. He had to fight a lot with his bike to arrive to this sixth position so we have to continue to work. We are less than 20 points behind the provisional championship leader but now we need to start reducing the gap and stop losing more points. Dominique paid the price for starting so far back on the grid, despite an excellent start. He was able to catch Tom and we also had the impression that he was more comfortable than his team mate, although he could not make a move and did not find the right pace. We worked really hard this weekend and I have to admit, we did not find a solution."
They said...
Dominique Aegerter (carXpert Interwetten, 8th) "Someone who has never ridden in these conditions cannot imagine what it is like to run the whole race on the limit. Sometimes even beyond. The conditions were very particular today. I had a good start and was comfortably in a good group, but not with the guys that I wanted to race with. I had a good feeling this morning in the warm-up but with the increased temperature it was completely different in the race. Eight points is good but I want more, I want podiums. Honestly, despite the starting position (18th), I expected more today. Well, there are still 14 races to go, I won't let this bother me because this weekend, until the qualifying session, we made a step forward with the whole team."
Robin Mulhauser (carXpert Interwetten, 15th) "This first point of the season is good but the race was very difficult and the track was tricky. There was simply no grip, it was sliding a lot and I had to give it 100% to stay concentrated and not to make a mistake. My first five laps were good, I was in a group with Syarhin (11th) and Pasini (12th) but when the rear tyre lost grip I became tense. I tried to be a bit less aggressive. In general, my races are not bad, now I need to work on my qualifying, I need to be more in the front to be in a faster group immediately."
