Luthi makes it a clean sweep in practice

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Thomas Lüthi, fastest in both of Thursday's Moto2 sessions, was quickest in the third and final practice on Friday ahead of Pol Espargaró, Esteve Rabat and Scott Redding.

Thomas Lüthi's (Interwetten Paddock) strong form at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar rolled on in FP3 on Friday, as the Swiss rider topped the final session before Saturday's qualifying with the fastest lap of the weekend so far. Lüthi's time of 2'00.479 meant he completed a clean sweep in all three Moto2 practice sessions, after topping the first and second runs the previous day.

Pons 40 HP Tuenti team-mates Pol Espargaró and Esteve Rabat were also in the mood for setting fast times, as the former clocked in at just 0.040s off Lüthi. Espargaró was the only other rider under 2'01” in the session, with Rabat in third posting a best effort of 2'01.118.

Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) was fourth in the order in 2'01.230, with Italians Claudio Corti (Italtrans), Simone Corsi (Came IodaRacing Project) and Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) closely grouped from fifth to seventh.

Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing) took a step forward and was the last rider within one second of Lüthi's scorching lap, and Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) and Alex de Angelis (NGM Mobile Forward Racing) completed the top 10.

Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda Gresini Moto2) escaped unharmed from a crash early in the session and went on to time in at 14th fastest, just behind Julián Simón (Blusens Avintia).

The Moto2 riders will be back on track at 6.55pm local time on Saturday for qualifying.

source: MotoGP Official

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Interwetten Honda Out From MotoGP

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Valencia race next Sunday will be the last race for Hiroshi Aoyama and the Interwetten Honda on MotoGP. Intterwetten Honda will sign off from MotoGP 2011. This satellite team will focused for Moto2 project for 2011 with Tom Luthi, and will return to the premier class at 2012.

Aoyama said: “It is a pity that the team cannot continue. I had a really good time with them and I want to thank the team for all they did for me.”

Looking ahead to the Valencia race the Japanese rider continued: “Sometimes I have a good feeling at Valencia and sometimes I don’t. I hope that this time the feeling will be good. Last year I achieved the 250cc world title there and I have some nice memories because of that, but you cannot compare this. I hope that the coming race will be better than the one in Estoril, where I could have finished in the top 10 but made a mistake and had to be satisfied with 12th at the end.”

Aoyama will announce his next year team after Valencia race this Sunday at Ricardo Tormo Circuit. Hiroshi Aoyama and the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team are aiming for a better result than in Estoril over the weekend, where Aoyama put on a strong performance in the middle of the race but was unable to finish higher than 12th due to a small mistake while in 10th position.

Sayonara Interwetten Honda

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