Thomas Lüthi

Infobox 250cc rider
Name = Thomas Lüthi
Nationality = flagicon|Switzerland Swiss
Birthdate = birth date and age|1986|09|16 [http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/motogp_riders.htm?menu=riders&rider_id=7030&championship_id=1 Official MotoGP profile] ]
Birthplace = Oberdiessbach, Switzerland
Website = [http://www.thomasluethi.ch thomasluethi.ch]
Bike number = 12
Current team = Emmi - Caffè Latte
Championships = 125cc - 2005
Race Starts = 20
Race Wins = 0
Podiums = 2
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 0
Last season = 2007
Last position = 8th (133pts)Infobox motorcycle rider
125 Active years = MGP|2002-MGP|2006
125 Championships = 1. MGP|2005
125 Manufacturers = Honda
125 Race Starts = 67
125 Race Wins = 5
125 Podiums = 10
125 Poles = 5
125 Fastest laps = 1
125 Points = 444
250 Active years = MGP|2007-Present
250 Championships = 0
250 Manufacturers = Aprilia
250 Race Starts = 26
250 Race Wins = 0
250 Podiums = 2
250 Poles = 0
250 Fastest laps = 0
250 Points = 210

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.

Early life

Growing up amongst the lime trees in Emmental, Thomas Luthi’s name first appeared in the motorcycle world as a 9 year old, starting his career on pocket bike. 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.

125cc

Luthi 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.

Thomas Luthi is the ideal weight for a 125cc bike, which means that he does not have to ride with lead weights on the motorcycle in order to compete with the minimum all-up weight of the motorcycle at 136 Kilos.

At 2003, Luthi 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 at Catalunya 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 score 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, Luthi won the MotoGP world championship title in the 125cc Class by 5 points ahead of rival Mika Kallio despite he only use a standard Honda RS125R kit. He thereby became the sixth-youngest world champion of all time. 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 have a disappointing season, seeing scoring his only win and only podium of the season at the 2006 French Grand Prix, had some injuries, and later he lost his title to Álvaro Bautista.

250cc

. He scored high points regularly (although without reaching the podium).

For 2008, he continues with the Aprilia RSA 250. He is 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. But both Luthi and Pesek with work as a team. His podium attempts were a failure until at 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 Alvaro 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.

Career Statistics

=Grand Prix career statistics cite news | url=http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/motogp_riders.htm?menu=riders&rider_id=6060&from=archive | title=Rider Statistics - Thomas Luthi | publisher=MotoGP.com | accessdate=2007-10-28 ] =

By season

* * In Progress

Races by year

() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in "italics" indicate fastest lap)

* * Season In Progress

References

External links

* [http://www.thomasluethi.ch/ Homepage von Thomas Lüthi]
* [http://www.jugi3.ch/homepage/tomluethi.htm Schweizer Fanpage]
* [http://www.thomasluethi-fanclub-oppels.de/ Die Homepage des deutschen Fanclubs]
* [http://www.startalk.ch/specials/index.php?special_id=7&sr_page=1 Tom Lüthi ist der «Star des Jahres» von www.startalk.ch]
* [http://www.miwi.ch/beitr/tomsieg.wma Radio Basilisk-Interview nach dem 1. Sieg in Le Mans (wma, schweizerdeutsch)]

External links

* [http://www.thomasluethi.ch thomasluethi.ch] Official website