Top-10 for Aegerter, Mulhauser crashes out from 13th
As we had predicted during the first two days of practice, the Catalan Moto2 Grand Prix was complicated due to an extreme heat that challenged both riders and their machines. Thomas Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) had a good start and was the best Swiss representative of the day, finishing in sixth position. His teammate Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten), third in the first part of the race, finished ninth. The luck wasn't with Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten) today at all. After an exceptional first lap, the youngster from Fribourg immediately placed himself in a good group and was running in thirteenth position before he unfortunately crashed out of the race. Frédéric Corminboeuf summarised the day in the following words: "Tom did a good job. He was fighting hard the whole race until the end. He preferred to settle for a sixth position rather than take too much risk for an extra point. Dominique had more issues with his bike than in practice on Saturday but he still finished ninth which means that we had two our riders in Top-10. The biggest disappointment is Robin today: the beginning of his race was a sensation, he got into a group that was fighting for the championship points, he had a good pace but then he crashed. Luckily he did not hurt himself although he did go to the mobile clinic for a moment to relax after the shock."
They said...
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten 9th): "Sam Lowes was too aggressive in the first corner and we had a contact. I managed to stay with the leaders for a few laps but I understood very quickly that I was not able to follow their pace. After 5 laps I did not have grip anymore. Everything has to be perfect in our class in order to even think about a podium. I knew from the practice that we were not quite there; I knew that I would quickly experience problems with grip but I didn't know what the situation would be like for the others."
Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten, crash): "I was KO for a moment there in the sand. I went to the mobile clinic for a general check up, they gave me some painkillers and I feel like as if there was a bar at the back of my head. I will go see a doctor on Monday again to see if I can test on Tuesday. My start was perfect, I felt really good, I was fighting with Krummenacher for a while, I overtook him and went with Kallio, who managed to get rid of Syarhin quickly but me, each time I was next to him he cut my line. On the seventh lap in the tenth corner he did the same thing and I, in rage, put first instead of second gear. The engine brake did the rest unfortunately: the back started to slide, I was able to control it the first time but not the second time and when I found myself in the gravel, everything was lost. It is really frustrating because I had the pace to score my first world championship points."
