Clear skies and seasonal temperatures in Verbier: CGBM Evolution chose the terrace of the restaurant “Le Dahu” on top of the Valais station in Verbier, Switzerland, to present their new colours.
In 2017, the squad headed by Frédéric Corminboeuf will line up with the vice 2016 runner up in Moto2™ Thomas Lüthi (carXpert Interwetten) alongside the two up and coming youngsters Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten), from Switzerland, and Iker Lecuona (Unicar Interwetten,) from Spain. All thee of them will have a Kalex Moto2 2017 machine at their disposal.
Thomas Lüthi: “I was riding more than in the previous years, especially motocross in Italy. The second part of our 2016 season was exceptional, so I did not want to change everything, however, I wanted to reinforce these achievements to continue and confirm it as soon as the first Grand Prix 2017 on 26 March in Qatar."
Frédéric Corminboeuf, Team Principal: “In the previous years we never used to set an objective before the start of the season. But that is no longer the case. We only have one last step to make: with Tom we would like to win the title. Those who think that we are putting pressure on the whole team are wrong. It is pure logic given what we achieved last year.
“We are really happy to welcome another Swiss hope Jesko Raffin. He improved throughout the 2016 season with a highlight performance in Phillip Island, during the Australian GP, where he qualified in 5th position, having led the classification for a while. This performance shows that Jesko has a lot of talent and with some work, he should be fighting for the points regularly, and we hope that often also for the Top-10. Iker Lecuona joined our team at the end of last year. He is very young – he has just turned 17 – he has a natural talent that one does not see that often. We were not the only team, who was interested in him. We did what we needed to do and now we need to work. In terms of our job, the first stop is the wind tunnel in Geneva, where the team has been working for several years. The riding season starts mid-February with a first 2017 test in Spain (Cheste in Valencia, then Jerez de la Frontera)."
M. Olivier Métraux, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Automotive Group and the main sponsor of CGBM Evolution: “We are very impatient to start the season. I only know Iker and Jesko a little but I am going to get to know them quickly. About Tom? My hope.. is to do better than in 2016!”