Moto2

Thomas Luthi Races To His First Win Of The Year In Japan

Posted:

Monday, October 13th, 2014

10:32 AM

Thomas Luthi Races To His First Win Of The Year In Japan

Front-row qualifier Thomas Luthi raced his, Interwetten Sitag Suter, machine to his first Moto2 race win of the season at the Motegi Circuit in Japan on Sunday the 12th of October.

Luthi led the 23-lap race from the first corner to the last, with the Swiss former 125cc champion working hard for the win, as Maverick Vinales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Pons Kalex) pushed through to second before the halfway point, and closed a lead that had been almost 2.5 seconds to less than a second as they started the final lap.

‰ÛÏThat was a good race, and a hard race." Luthi admitted. "I was able to make a good start and a good gap in the beginning, which surprised me a bit, but I never felt safe.

"I could feel the pressure from behind, and that they were coming closer, but I tried to hold my rhythm, and that was important. I made two mistakes ‰ÛÒ one missed gear, and once braking a little bit too late. The rest was really perfect, which makes me feel really happy.‰Û

Moto2 Podium - Credit: Honda Racing

Moto2 Motegi Race Results:
1 Thomas Luthi 42'50.219 SWI SUTER Interwetten Paddock Moto2
2 Maverick Vinales 1.209 ESP KALEX Pons HP 40
3 Esteve Rabat 3.631 ESP KALEX Marc VDS Racing Team
4 Johann Zarco 7.797 FRA CATERHAM SUTER AirAsia Caterham
5 Mika Kallio 8.472 FIN KALEX Marc VDS Racing Team
6 Julian Simon 8.881 SPA KALEX Italtrans Racing Team
7 Franco Morbidelli 11.203 ITA KALEX Italtrans Racing Team
8 Hafizh Syahrin 17.509 MAL KALEX Petronas Raceline Malaysia
9 Ricard Cardus 18.424 ESP TECH 3 Tech 3
10 Xavier Simeon 21.192 GER SUTER Federal Oil Gresini Moto2
11 Jordi Torres 22.646 ESP SUTER Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2
12 Jonas Folger 23.303 GER KALEX ArgiÌ±ano & Gines Racing
13 Takaaki Nakagima 26.077 JPN KALEX Idemitsu Honda Team Asia
14 Gino Rea 26.708 GBR SUTER AGT REA Racing
15 Luis Salom 28.921 ESP KALEX Pons HP 40
16 Louis Rossi 29.312 FRA KALEX SAG team 17 Lorenzo Baldassarri 31.192 ITA SUTER Gresini Moto2
18 Dominique Aegerter 33.956 SWI SUTER Technomag CarXpert
19 Ratthapark Wilairot 41.606 THA CATERHAM SUTER AirAsia Caterham
21 Randy Krummenacher 42.133 SWI SUTER IodaRacing Project
22 Nicolas Terol 44.568 ESP SUTER Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2
24 Azlan Shah 51.944 MAL KALEX Idemitsu Honda Team Asia
25 Thitipong Warokorn 52.398 THA KALEX APH PTT The Pizza SAG
27 Roman Ramos 58.088 ESP SPEED UP QMMF Racing Team
28 Robin Mulhauser 1'06.689 SWI SUTER Technomag CarXpert
29 Marcel Schrotter 1'15.937 GER TECH 3 Tech 3
31 Axel Pons DNF SPA KALEX ArgiÌ±ano & Gines Racing
32 Anthony West DNF AUS SPEED UP QMMF Racing Team
33 Mattia Pasini DNF ITA FORWARD KLX NGM Forward Racing
34 Sandro Cortese DNF GER KALEX Dynavolt Intact GP
35 Sam Lowes DNF GBR SPEED UP Speed Up

Moto2 Championship Standings
1 Esteve Rabat 294 pts
2 Mika Kallio 256 pts
3 Maverick Vinales 224 pts
4 Dominique Aegerter 143 pts
5 Thomas Luthi 141 pts
6 Johann Zarco 117 pts
7 Simone Corsi 100 pts
8 Franco Morbidelli 72 pts
9 Luis Salom 67 pts
10 Sandro Cortese 66 pts
11 Anthony West 65 pts
12 Marcel Schrotter 57 pts
13 Jonas Folger 52 pts
14 Sam Lowes 49 pts
15 Julian Simon 46 pts
16 Xavier Simeon 45 pts
17 Jordi Torres 45 pts
18 Hafizh Syahrin 42 pts
19 Ricard Cardus 37 pts
20 Alex De Angelis 37 pts

Top Image: Thomas Luthi on his way to his first Moto2 win for 2014

Credit: Honda Racing