StyrianGP: positive start into the weekend

Tom Lüthi starts with a 13th place into the second race weekend at the Red Bull Ring

The first two free practice sessions of the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring took place on Friday at a fairly hot 30°C.
Tom Lüthi started the second weekend in Austria with a very positive feeling. On Friday, the Swiss could finally outplay his strength on the brakes. In the afternoon he caught up closer to the top and finished seventh. For tomorrow, the Intact GP rider hopes to make up for missing time in the third sector. Hardly anyone could beat the lap times of the morning in the much warmer afternoon. With his lap of 1'29.310, Tom Lüthifinished in 13th position at the end of the day one.

Tom Lüthi
P13 - 1'29.310 (+0.577)

Today we made a few steps forward compared to last weekend. This morning I immediately had a completely different sensation, especially on the brakes. I was able to act very differently on the bike right away, which was a really great feeling. I'm so happy to start the weekend this way. Of course, I was disappointed that I couldn't improve any further after FP1. We rode the entire session on the same tyres, maybe that was the reason. Tactically the other riders acted a little differently and maybe our approach wasn't ideal, but we were a bit limited because we just had to work on the bike a lot. It was much warmer in the afternoon, which makes it harder for everyone to go faster. Still, the work we did was good. In the afternoon I could feel pretty much everything that the bike was doing. I then tried to explain this to my mechanics using gestures so that they could understand exactly what I was feeling out on the track in the respective sectors. This is truly important and we will keep pushing. The first day is done and dusted. Things weren't bad, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Michael Thier
Crew Chief #12 Tom Lüthi

Generally, things went well today. The main problem from last weekend was that Tom couldn't make use of his strength on the brakes, which is crucial on this track. Between the two race weekends we looked at the data very carefully and tried to figure out the issues. The brake performance, in particular. We had to further improve and I think we have now made a big step forward. Last week it was also the third sector in which we lost most of the time. We took a step forward in FP2 too, but we still have to look at everything in detail and understand where we are losing the time to the top. We will see what exactly we need to change for tomorrow in order to improve further.

FP1:
1. Sam LOWES / GBR / KALEX - 1'28.733
2. Remy GARDNER / AUS / KALEX - 1'28.749 (+0.016)
3. Jorge MARTIN / SPA / KALEX - 1'28.793 (+0.060)
10. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'29.209 (+0.476)
12. Thomas LUTHI / SWI / KALEX - 1'29.310 (+0.577)
Full result of the first free practice

FP2:
1. Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / KALEX - 1'29.092
2. Remy GARDNER / AUS / KALEX - 1'29.134 (+0.042)
3. Jorge NAVARRO / SPA / SPEED UP - 1'29.302 (+0.210)
7. Thomas LUTHI / SWI / KALEX - 1'29.509 (+0.417)
9. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'29.558 (+0.466)
Full result of the second free practice

Combined results FP1/FP2