Hard-won points for Marcel Schrötter, 13th in the #EuropeanGP – 19th for Tom Luthi

The LIQUI MOLY Intact GP team ended the first of two race weekends in Valencia with mixed feelings. In a demanding European Grand Prix, Marcel Schrötter achieved 13th place, whereas Tom Lüthi finished far behind after having problems.

The sun had returned just in time for the third-last racing Sunday of the 2020 season and the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP riders were in good spirits to deliver a decent performance in Valencia, Spain.

With his rocket-like start, Marcel Schrötter planted the perfect base for his ambitious goal. Coming from 16th place, he shot up to seventh after only a few meters, but with every lap, it became increasingly difficult to keep up with the leading group. He fought hard at the limit to achieve this longed-for top10 result, and with lap times that were in parts equal to those of the podium contenders, he always had glimmers of hope. But in the end, it wasn’t quite enough and a small mistake cost him further positions resulting in the 27-year-old crossing the finish line in 13th place. With three points won, he is still 13th overall. Yet only six points are missing from reaching the top 10.

Tom Lüthi, who started into the 25-lap thriller with a good feeling from 13th position, was once again not rewarded with a happy ending. With problems that have yet to be investigated, especially when accelerating, the Swiss had no chance in the European Grand Prix. He dropped down to 19th place and, after Aragon, where he had crashed through no fault of his own, he got zero points for the second consecutive time.

In the World Championship standings Tom Lüthi nevertheless maintained ninth place and already next week, from November 13th to 15th, the LIQUI MOLY Intact GP duo will have the next opportunity to fight for the last available points of the season at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia as they’re getting closer to the upcoming final in Portugal.

Marcel Schrötter
P13
Moto2 World Championship 2020 – P13 – 64 Points

“I had a good start, was able to fight my way into a good position, and managed to find my rhythm and to ride decent times. Still, there were still about two or three-tenths missing. It was a very tough race. I had to fight hard for every inch and this racetrack doesn’t give you a single break either. I was hoping to hold onto the tenth position because that would have been a solid result for us, even if we, of course, want to finish much further to the front. Considering how hard we struggled in the last few races, the tenth place would have been a glimmer of hope. I made a mistake at Turn 1 with three laps to go by getting onto the wet spot. As a result, I immediately lost two places. In the final laps, I struggled with myself and my grip. It wasn’t easy to keep up the pace and of course that disappoints me a lot. We are trying to improve a few things for next week, we will analyze the race very carefully now and see what is possible.”

Tom Lüthi
P19
Moto2 World Championship 2020 – P9 – 72 Points

“I can’t really explain what was going on yet, but I had a problem accelerating. Something didn’t work, but we don’t know what exactly. I don’t want to speculate at this moment either, but the fact is that I didn’t have a chance to keep up. We tried to take a step from the set-up and the direction was good, but we were simply too far away. Now we have to see what exactly led to my lack of speed. This is primarily important in order to solve the problem for the upcoming week, but the outcome of the race was once again a shame.”