Marcel Schrotter takes 5th at the #EmiliaRomagnaGP while Tom Luthi takes 9th

Shortly before the Moto2 field lined-up for the eighth race of the season, an initially inconspicuous cloud was brewing over the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

After five laps, it started to rain lightly, but shortly after, the Moto2 race at the Emilia Romagna GP was interrupted due to unclear track conditions. The restart also had to be delayed due to another brief rain shower.

When the time finally came, the starting positions for the short ten-lap sprint race were based on the positions before the race got red-flagged, which meant P6 and P14 for Marcel Schrötter and Tom Lüthi.

Marcel Schrötter got off to a great start in the second race and took the third spot into the first corner behind Enea Bastianini and Xavi Vierge. While the Italian rode off at the front and ultimately took victory unbeaten, Vierge and Schrötter battled each other in a relentless duel. The Intact GP rider finally found a gap on the inside resulting in a contact, which the Spaniard, unfortunately, paid for with a race finishing crash. The 27-year-old Bavarian also went wide, which was immediately exploited by his pursuers Marco Bezzecchi and Sam Lowes. In the end, Marcel Schrötter crossed the finish line in fifth place after a strong battle.

With eleven points, he climbed up to tenth place in the World Championships and is now all the more motivated for the next challenge coming next week in Barcelona.

Tom Lüthi also gave everything in the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna in Italy and got partially compensated with a top 10 result. On the second Misano weekend, the Swiss worked once again very hard with his crew to solve the current difficulties. Even on Sunday, he was not completely exempt from it. With fresh tyres, he was able to leave a few competitors behind in the re-started race, finishing in ninth place.

As ninth in the World Championship, Tom Lüthi and the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team will travel to Barcelona in just a few days to continue their work at the Grand Prix of Catalonia from September 25th to 27th.

Marcel Schrötter
P5

“The first start was decent, then came the rain, which didn’t necessarily play into our hands. We were already on the soft tyres and I also think it would have worked well over the distance. Maybe I would have had problems in the last three laps, but until then we could have done well. The problem was that we didn’t have a new tyre available for the restart. Those who had used the hard tyre before changed to the soft one, because it would definitely have stayed in good shape for the 10 laps. So I was at a slight disadvantage in the short race because of my already used tyres. Due to our good starting position we were able to show a good race nevertheless. It was a hard fight with Xavi Vierge, because he was incredibly fast on the straight. It was difficult for me to get past him. Of course, I tried everything and maybe that got me into trouble with the other opponents. But I had to try. It’s a pity I didn’t get past him earlier, then maybe I could have controlled my pace better. We have to be satisfied with that now, after all we have arrived this time. We have taken important points with us, we see that we can do it, now we have to put all the pieces of the puzzle together again. Everyone is doing a good job, but it is not so easy at the moment. Thanks to my team. I am already highly motivated for Barcelona next week.”

Tom Lüthi
P9

“Both starts were pretty good, both times I was outside the first corner, but then lost positions because I was a bit trapped. In the second race it was clear that it would be a ten-lap sprint race, so we, like many others, put on the new soft tyres. They also worked pretty well after I started the first race with the harder compound. It all worked out well, but the problem was that I got stuck in traffic and couldn’t use the new tyre at the beginning. I then tried to attack, overtook a few, and fought, but it wasn’t enough. We couldn’t solve the problems before the race. We only took small steps, but there is still no big solution in sight. Now Barcelona is next and this is a track with a comparable flow, so we need similar things from the bike. We will try to build on that, keep our heads high, as that’s the way we work.”