Thomas Lüthi

Thomas Lüthi (born 6 September 1986) is a Swiss sporting director at Prüstel GP,^[2] and former Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He spent 19 years in Grand Prix world championships, becoming one of only six riders to reach 300 race starts,^[3] spending much of his career with the Interwetten Paddock team, with who he became the 2005 season's 125cc world champion.^[4]

Thomas Lüthi
Lüthi in 2018
Nationality	Swiss
Born	(1986-09-06) 6 September 1986 (age 37)^[1] Oberdiessbach, Switzerland
Website
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2018 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2018 championship position 29th (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 18 0 0 0 0 0 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2010–2017, 2019–2021 Manufacturers Moriwaki, Suter, Kalex Championships 0 2021 championship position 22nd (27 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 185 12 53 7 18 1852 250cc World Championship Active years 2007–2009 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 2009 championship position 7th (120 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 47 0 2 0 0 361 125cc World Championship Active years 2002–2006 Manufacturers Honda Championships 1 (2005) 2006 championship position 8th (113 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 67 5 10 5 1 444

Career

Early career

Lüthi was born in Oberdiessbach, Kanton Bern, Switzerland, but grew up in Emmental. Lüthi started racing pocket bikes at the age of nine. He won pocket bike championships in 1999 and 2000. In 2002, he finished second overall in the European 125cc Championship, and third in the German 125cc series.

125cc World Championship

Lüthi made his first 125cc World Championship appearance at the 2002 German Grand Prix, which he finished in 26th place.

In the 2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, Lüthi was invited by Daniel Epp to ride for his team, known as the "Elit Grand Prix Team"; Epp became his manager. Lüthi scored his first podium in Barcelona and ended in second place. In 2004, he retired from four races in a row, missed four races because of injury, and scored 14 points.

Andy Ibbott of California Superbike School started training Thomas during the 2005 season. Lüthi scored his first 125cc class Grand Prix win in 2005 at Le Mans, followed by three more victories that season, including one at his team's home race at Brno, Czech Republic. On 6 November 2005 Lüthi secured his first world championship in the 125cc class, the sixth-youngest person to do so; this took place at Valencia. While using a Honda RS125R kit, Lüthi won the world championship title in the 125cc class, being five points ahead of Mika Kallio. Lüthi was voted Swiss sportsman of the year in 2005 and also won the annual "Swiss Award" in the category of sport.

After winning the 2005 125cc World Championship, he was partnered by Sandro Cortese of Germany and the team name was changed to "Elit — Caffè Latte". He scored his only win and only podium of the season at the 2006 French Grand Prix. He lost his championship title to Álvaro Bautista.^{[citation needed]}

250cc World Championship

After the 2006 season, Lüthi moved on to 250cc. The team changed their name to "Emmi — Caffè Latte", and defected to Aprilia, racing on the Aprilia RSA 250.

For 2008, Lüthi continued with the Aprilia RSA 250. Daniel Epp also ran an Aprillia LE for Lukáš Pešek, under the Auto Kelly - CP branding. Lüthi did not have any podiums until the 2008 Italian GP, where he finished at the podium in third place. At Assen, he finished in second place behind Álvaro Bautista. At Brno, Lüthi crashed out of the race due to an apparent brake failure.

In 2009, he finished seventh overall in 250cc, although without a podium.

Moto2 World Championship

 

Lüthi at the 2011 Portuguese Grand Prix

For 2010, he remained with the team in the Moto2 class that replaced the 250cc category. At Silverstone, Lüthi finished in second place. Lüthi finished in third place at Assen, which was a position he acquired on the last lap after being in first place earlier in the race.^[5] Lüthi had a collarbone injury during those two races.^[6]

MotoGP World Championship

On 24 August 2017, it was announced that Lüthi would move up to MotoGP for the 2018 season, partnering Moto2 title rival Franco Morbidelli at EG 0,0 Marc VDS. Lüthi did not score a single point throughout his first MotoGP campaign, with his best result being 16th place at Losail, Le Mans, Brno, Phillip Island, and Sepang.

Return to Moto2

On 12 August 2018, it was announced that Lüthi would step back to Moto2 for the 2019 season, joining Dynavolt Intact GP. He replaced Xavi Vierge, who moved to Marc VDS.

Retirement

On 19 August 2021, he announced his retirement from racing after the 2021 season. He will take on the role of Sports Director of the Prüstel GP Moto3 team, as well as their Junior Team, starting 2022.^[7]

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Type	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2002	125cc	Honda	Honda RS125R	Elit Grand Prix	7	0	0	0	0	7	27th	–
2003	125cc	Honda	Honda RS125R	Elit Grand Prix	15	0	1	0	0	68	15th	–
2004	125cc	Honda	Honda RS125R	Elit Grand Prix	13	0	0	0	0	14	25th	–
2005	125cc	Honda	Honda RS125R	Elit Grand Prix	16	4	8	5	1	242	1st	1
2006	125cc	Honda	Honda RS125R	Elit – Caffe Latte	16	1	1	0	0	113	8th	–
2007	250cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 250	Emmi – Caffe Latte	17	0	0	0	0	133	8th	–
2008	250cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 250	Emmi – Caffe Latte	14	0	2	0	0	108	11th	–
2009	250cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 250	Emmi – Caffe Latte	16	0	0	0	0	120	7th	–
2010	Moto2	Moriwaki	Moriwaki MD600	Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2	17	0	5	0	2	156	4th	–
2011	Moto2	Suter	Suter MMX2	Interwetten Paddock Moto2	17	1	4	1	0	151	5th	–
2012	Moto2	Suter	Suter MMX2	Interwetten-Paddock	17	1	6	1	3	191	4th	–
2013	Moto2	Suter	Suter MMX2	Interwetten Paddock Moto2	15	0	6	0	1	155	6th	–
2014	Moto2	Suter	Suter MMX2	Interwetten Paddock Moto2	18	2	4	0	2	194	4th	–
2015	Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	Derendinger Racing Interwetten	18	1	4	1	3	179	5th	–
2016	Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	Garage Plus Interwetten	17	4	6	3	2	234	2nd	–
2017	Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	Garage Plus Interwetten	16	2	10	1	1	243	2nd	–
2018	MotoGP	Honda	Honda RC213V	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	18	0	0	0	0	0	29th	–
2019	Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	Dynavolt Intact GP	18	1	8	0	4	250	3rd	–
2020	Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	Liqui Moly Intact GP	15	0	0	0	0	72	11th	–
2021	Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	17	0	0	0	0	27	22nd	–
Total					317	17	65	12	19	2657		1

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	2002–2006	2002 Germany	2003 Catalunya	2005 France	67	5	10	5	1	444	1
250cc	2007–2009	2007 Qatar	2008 Italy		47	0	2	0	0	361	0
Moto2	2010–2017, 2019–2021	2010 Qatar	2010 Spain	2011 Malaysia	185	12	53	7	18	1852	0
MotoGP	2018	2018 Qatar			18	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2002–2021				317	17	65	12	19	2657	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pos	Pts
2002	125cc	Honda	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER 26	CZE 19	POR 9	RIO 24	PAC	MAL 21	AUS Ret	VAL 24				27th	7
2003	125cc	Honda	JPN 9	RSA 17	SPA 12	FRA 9	ITA 15	CAT 2	NED 7	GBR 22	GER Ret	CZE Ret	POR Ret	RIO 15	PAC 10	MAL 4	AUS 16	VAL DNS				15th	68
2004	125cc	Honda	RSA Ret	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT	NED	RIO	GER 18	GBR 18	CZE 18	POR 16	JPN 12	QAT 13	MAL 11	AUS 19	VAL 14				25th	14
2005	125cc	Honda	SPA Ret	POR 3	CHN 4	FRA 1	ITA 2	CAT 7	NED 10	GBR 6	GER 2	CZE 1	JPN 2	MAL 1	QAT 6	AUS 1	TUR 5	VAL 9				1st	242
2006	125cc	Honda	SPA Ret	QAT 8	TUR 12	CHN Ret	FRA 1	ITA 9	CAT 6	NED 8	GBR 8	GER 6	CZE 5	MAL 13	AUS 4	JPN Ret	POR Ret	VAL 10				8th	113
2007	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 4	SPA Ret	TUR 5	CHN 8	FRA Ret	ITA 5	CAT 4	GBR Ret	NED Ret	GER 9	CZE 7	RSM 4	POR 4	JPN 10	AUS 5	MAL 5	VAL 9			8th	133
2008	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 15	SPA Ret	POR 4	CHN Ret	FRA 11	ITA 3	CAT 5	GBR 5	NED 2	GER 7	CZE Ret	RSM 7	INP C	JPN	AUS	MAL 9	VAL 10			11th	108
2009	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 6	JPN 8	SPA 5	FRA Ret	ITA 4	CAT 6	NED Ret	GER 8	GBR 9	CZE Ret	INP 9	RSM 10	POR 7	AUS 11	MAL 4	VAL 4				7th	120
2010	Moto2	Moriwaki	QAT 7	SPA 3	FRA 19	ITA 4	GBR 2	NED 3	CAT 2	GER Ret	CZE 11	INP 7	RSM 3	ARA 10	JPN 8	MAL Ret	AUS 11	POR 16	VAL 4			4th	156
2011	Moto2	Suter	QAT 3	SPA 2	POR Ret	FRA 5	CAT Ret	GBR 15	NED 8	ITA 6	GER 5	CZE 5	INP 17	RSM 8	ARA 7	JPN 3	AUS 11	MAL 1	VAL 17			5th	151
2012	Moto2	Suter	QAT 5	SPA 3	POR 3	FRA 1	CAT 2	GBR 8	NED Ret	GER 5	ITA 3	INP 5	CZE 2	RSM 9	ARA 10	JPN 5	MAL Ret	AUS Ret	VAL 4			4th	191
2013	Moto2	Suter	QAT	AME DNS	SPA 11	FRA Ret	ITA 9	CAT 3	NED 8	GER 6	INP 13	CZE 3	GBR 3	RSM 4	ARA Ret	MAL 3	AUS 2	JPN 3	VAL 7			6th	155
2014	Moto2	Suter	QAT 3	AME 6	ARG 19	SPA 10	FRA 8	ITA Ret	CAT 5	NED 6	GER 9	INP Ret	CZE 4	GBR 5	RSM 5	ARA 4	JPN 1	AUS 2	MAL 8	VAL 1		4th	194
2015	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 3	AME 12	ARG 6	SPA 4	FRA 1	ITA Ret	CAT 6	NED 5	GER 6	INP 6	CZE 7	GBR 9	RSM 10	ARA 5	JPN Ret	AUS 15	MAL 2	VAL 3		5th	179
2016	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 1	ARG 7	AME 7	SPA 6	FRA 3	ITA 4	CAT 5	NED Ret	GER Ret	AUT 4	CZE DNS	GBR 1	RSM 6	ARA 4	JPN 1	AUS 1	MAL 6	VAL 2		2nd	234
2017	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 2	ARG 3	AME 2	SPA 8	FRA 3	ITA 2	CAT 2	NED 2	GER Ret	CZE 1	AUT 3	GBR 4	RSM 1	ARA 4	JPN 11	AUS 10	MAL DNS	VAL		2nd	243
2018	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 16	ARG 17	AME 18	SPA Ret	FRA 16	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 20	GER 17	CZE 16	AUT 22	GBR C	RSM 22	ARA 17	THA 20	JPN 20	AUS 16	MAL 16	VAL Ret	29th	0
2019	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 2	ARG Ret	AME 1	SPA 4	FRA 6	ITA 3	CAT 2	NED 4	GER 5	CZE Ret	AUT 6	GBR 8	RSM 4	ARA 6	THA 7	JPN 2	AUS 3	MAL 3	VAL 2	3rd	250
2020	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 10	SPA Ret	ANC 7	CZE 17	AUT 7	STY 5	RSM 6	EMI 9	CAT 11	FRA 5	ARA 12	TER Ret	EUR 19	VAL 16	POR 16					11th	72
2021	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 15	DOH Ret	POR 17	SPA 19	FRA Ret	ITA DNS	CAT 15	GER 19	NED 14	STY 16	AUT 9	GBR 11	ARA Ret	RSM 11	AME Ret	EMI 14	ALR 19	VAL 12		22nd	27

References

1. . Archived from the original on June 25, 2007.
2. "Ex-MotoGP racer Luthi to retire from racing at the end of 2021". August 19, 2021.
3. "Artikel / Tom Lüthi". Tom Lüthi.
4. Sports, Dorna. "Thomas Lüthi, 2005 125cc World Champion | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com.
5. "Another Iannone runaway at Assen". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
6. "Luthi to ride fresh from surgery". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
7. Sports, Dorna. "Tom Lüthi announces his retirement". www.motogp.com.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Lüthi.

• Thomas Lüthi at MotoGP.com 
• Thomas Lüthi at AS.com (in Spanish) 
• (in German) Official website  
• (in German) Tom Lüthi ist der «Star des Jahres» von www.startalk.ch 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
• (in German) Radio Basilisk-Interview nach dem 1. Sieg in Le Mans (wma, schweizerdeutsch) 2005-12-23 at the Wayback Machine

Awards
Preceded by Roger Federer	Swiss Sportsman of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Roger Federer