Qualifying thriller for Tom Lüthi

Tom Lüthi achieved grid position 16 in an extremely tough qualifying session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

In qualifying for the second race at Misano Adriatico, the first seven minutes were the most crucial, after which only a few riders of the Moto2 field were able to improve.

For Tom Lüthi the weekend so far has turned out to be another up-and-down ride. After a strong Friday, the Swiss improved on Saturday as well, but his rivals were able to do some more steps. With 13th place in the FP3 he secured his participation in Q2 qualifying, but the 15-minute session was anything but easy. After the Intact GP pilot put up a 1'36.242 in his fourth lap, there was no way to improve on that, as was the case with the majority of the other riders. The currently tenth in the World Championship had to accept grid position 16 on row six and is now nevertheless hoping to score decent points again in the eighth race of the season.

Tom Lüthi
P16 - 1'36.242 (+0.971)

We got off to a good start here, FP1 was really strong, I was able to ride in front and the pace, rhythm and lap times were really promising. And after that we just couldn't improve enough, the others gained a lot more than we did. We improved too, in terms of lap times over the weekend, but the others gained a lot more. Of course we got faster, but it was just not enough. We are still looking for a solution and trying to understand the whole thing. The starting position is very disappointing, but we have to keep working and try something in the warm-up. And then I hope that I can make up some places in the race. There are 25 laps to go and it is important to get a good start and if possible to overtake some right at the beginning, when the field is still together. If that succeeds, it is important to hang on to a fast group and try to work your way forward step by step. First and foremost, we need to make progress in the setting during the warm-up so that I feel more comfortable on the bike and can start the race with more confidence. I am convinced that we belong further ahead and also that I am still able to ride faster. We are not going to give up, we are going to stay with it and keep fighting.

Michael Thier
Crew Chief #12 Tom Lüthi

We started the weekend pretty well yesterday, and then made a step forward compared to last weekend. We were great in FP1, Tom had found a good rhythm, but already in FP2 it was a bit unfortunate because we first had to understand the tyres. We have a different tyre allocation for Misano II than last week. Nevertheless, we have other difficulties as well. We're trying to do everything we can, to tackle the problems in the right places, but the improvements just aren't enough for Tom's feeling. The front tyre is not performing as we would like it to. We don't expect any surprises tomorrow, because we are simply too far away from the top. It's hard to make a forecast for the race, but we will try everything to understand some things in the warm-up, hoping to close the gap to the top maybe a little bit more.

FP3:
1. Enea BASTIANINI / ITA / KALEX - 1'35.649
2. Sam LOWES / GBR / KALEX - 1'35.800 (+0.151)
3. Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / KALEX - 1'35.820 (+0.171)
5. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'35.968 (+0.319)
13. Thomas LUTHI / SWI / KALEX - 1'36.239 (+0.590)

See full result of FP3

Q2:
1. Luca MARINI / ITA / KALEX - 1'35.271
2. Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / KALEX - 1'35.307 (+0.036)
3. Xavi VIERGE / SPA / KALEX - 1'35.619 (+0.348)
11. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'36.033 (+0.762)
16. Thomas LUTHI / SWI / KALEX - 1'36.242 (+0.971)

See full starting grid
Lap time analysis