|
| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Thnxs for the comments at my previous post.
Thomas Lüthi (born 6 September 1986 in Oberdiessbach, Kanton Bern, Switzerland) is a professional motorcycle road racer currently competing in the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship for the Czech Emmi - Caffè Latte Aprilia run by Swiss Daniel Epp.
Growing up amongst the lime trees in Emmental, Thomas Lüthi's name first appeared in the motorcycle world as a 9 year old, starting his career on pocket bikes. He won a couple of championships in the pocket bikes in 1999 and 2000.
He also competed in the 125cc German Championship in 2002 and finished 3rd overall, same year, he participated in the 125cc European championship but it was a better one that he finished runner-up.
Lüthi made his first 125cc World Championship appearance at the 2002 German GP which he finished in 26th place. Later he was given a regular ride for the rest of the season on a Honda.
In 2003, Lüthi was invited by Daniel Epp to ride for his team, known as the "Elit Grand Prix Team" and Epp became his manager. He scored his first podium in Barcelona with a second place. 2004 was a year to forget for him. He retired four races in a row, got some injuries that took him out of 4 races and he scored only 14 points.
Andy Ibbott of California Superbike School fame started training Thomas during the 2005 season. He scored his first 125 cc class Grand Prix win in 2005 at Le Mans followed by three more victories that season, including a heroic one at his team's home race at Brno, Czech Republic. On November 6, 2005 Lüthi secured his first world championship in the 125 cc class, the sixth-youngest champion ever at Valencia. Lüthi won the world championship title in the 125cc Class by 5 points ahead of rival Mika Kallio despite he only use a standard Honda RS125R kit. As a great achievement, he was selected to be Swiss sportsman of the year 2005 and by the choice of the Swiss people, also won the annual "Swiss Award" in the category of sport.
After winning the 2005 125cc World Championship, there were rumours surrounding him that he may move to 250cc class in 2006. But he stayed in the 125cc class. He was partnered by Sandro Cortese of Germany and the team name was changed to "Elit - Caffè Latte". He had a disappointing season, scoring his only win and only podium of the season at the 2006 French Grand Prix. He had some injuries, and later he lost his title to Álvaro Bautista.
After leaving a disappointing 2006, Lüthi had moved on by switching to 250cc. The team changed their name to "Emmi - Caffè Latte", and defected to Aprilia, receiving factory support for the first time to run the Aprilia RSA 250. He scored high points regularly (although without reaching the podium).
For 2008, he continued with the Aprilia RSA 250. He was partnered by Lukáš Pešek who uses an Aprilia LE, and with a different banner, known as the Auto Kelly - CP also operated by Daniel Epp. His podium attempts were a failure until the 2008 Italian GP where he finally finished at the podium with a valuable 3rd place. He went one better at Assen - after qualifying 6th he made a fast start and challenged Marco Simoncelli for the lead, forcing the Italian wide. Luthi led from the first lap until passed by Bautista mid-race. A light rain shower allowed him to reclaim the lead briefly, before he ultimately finished 2nd to Bautista. At Brno he made another fast start, moving up to 2nd from 5th on the grid, however he crashed out after a few laps due to an apparent brake failure.
Source:Wikipedia
Grtzz. Nildo |
TheMystic has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekLens members may rate photo notes. |
|
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 303 W: 3 N: 212]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(2865)![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 977 W: 30 N: 1436]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(5903)![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1937 W: 102 N: 2504]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(15371)