# Thomas Lüthi

Thomas Lüthi (born 6 September 1986) is a Swiss sporting director at Prüstel GP, 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, spending much of his career with the Interwetten Paddock team, with who he became the 2005 season's 125cc world champion.

## 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.

### 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

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. Lüthi had a collarbone injury during those two races.

### 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.

## 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 | Total | Total | Total | 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 | 2002–2021 | 2002–2021 | 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 |