Aegerter less than a second off, Mulhauser makes a head start to his weekend
The first day of free practice – two free practice sessions – for the Grand Prix of Aragon on the fantastic circuit of Motorland in Alcañiz was difficult for the top two Swiss riders. Thomas Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) lost quite a lot of time this afternoon due to a technical problem (brakes), while Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten) was experiencing problems with corner entries. Eleventh today, Lüthi is six positions ahead of his teammate on a circuit that is 5078 metres long, but where gaps are very small (the top seventeen riders are in less than one second). On the other hand, good news come from Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten), who was 23rd, 1,5 seconds off the pole. Frédéric Corminboeuf, the boss of the Swiss team, starts his evaluation with him: “It was a good day for Robin, he worked a lot and very well. He has never been so fast on a Friday since the beginning of his Grand Prix career; it is a good base for something nice to come on Saturday in qualifying and then on Sunday in the race. Dominique did many laps with the same tires and I am sure that in qualifying he can give us a nice surprise. Tom started off well (3rd this morning) but he had more problems this afternoon especially with his front brake. We still have a lot of work to do because I can imagine that the rest of the weekend will require a strategy; the difference between the tires that we have at our disposal here is very significant.”
They said…
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 17th): “This circuit of Aragon is more difficult for me than Misano. From this morning I have been struggling with corner entries. I cannot brake the way I want and I cannot relax on the bike. The gaps were smaller this afternoon where I tried to save my softest tires that have significantly more grip. I am less than a second off and able to target the Top-10 in qualifying tomorrow.”
Robin Mulhauser (Technomag Racing Interwetten, 23th): “I do have the impression that this has been my best first day of practice since I arrived to the world championship. I know this circuit very well, I made my debut appearance here two years ago and we managed our time very well with my technical team. This morning I used the hard tire to set up the bike and this afternoon when I used the softer one I was immediately 1,5 seconds quicker. I have a really good feeling and I hope that in qualifying I can follow Tom for a few laps and try to move up in the classification.”
