Former MotoGP rider Thomas Luthi will retire from motorcycle racing at the end of the season to become the sporting director for the Prustel Moto3 squad.
Luthi is currently competing for the SAG team in Moto2, though the Swiss ace is suffering a poor year as he sits only 23rd in the riders standings having only scored on four occasions this year, his best of ninth coming last time out in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
The 12-time Moto2 race winner will hang up his helmet in favour of becoming the sporting director for the Prustel GP outfit in Moto3 in 2022, the same team his young protégé Jason Depasquier competed with prior to his tragic death as a result of a qualifying crash at Mugello for the Italian GP in May.
Luthi also announced he will fully enter the world of rider management with immediate effect while completing his final year as a GP racer, taking on the career of young Red Bull Rookies and CEV Moto3 rider and countryman Noah Dettwiler as he looks to make the step into the Moto3 world championship in the near future.
Luthi says he is “very much looking forward” to being able to pass on his “knowledge as well as experience” he has garnered across nearly two decades across all three classes of motorcycle grand prix competition to younger riders looking to follow in his footsteps.
“Of course, the decision was not easy for me. The paddock of the motorcycle world championship was my second home for almost 20 years and the biggest part of my life,” said Luthi in an Instagram post explaining his decision to call quits on his racing career.
“I was able to experience great teamwork, celebrate great successes and learn incredibly much about international road racing and its background, also in sometimes difficult times, of course.
“Even though I’m saying goodbye to my active career, I’m glad not to have to do so from the paddock and from motorcycle riders in general.
“For years I fought for success, for top positions and for fast lap times. I will continue to do that in the future, just no longer as a rider, but in other roles.
“Over the years, I’ve seen how crucial a professional, stable environment and one’s own development are for sporting success – so I’m very much looking forward to being able to pass on my knowledge as well as my experience, and to continue working with some of my long-time partners.”
Luthi made his GP debut in the 125cc class back in 2002, going on to score his debut rostrum in the Catalan GP the following year before eventually lifting the title in ’05.
He spent the bulk of his career in the intermediate class though across the 250cc and succeeding Moto2 categories, collecting 12 wins with a best overall championship result of second on a pair of occasions with the Garage Plus Interwetten organisation.
He also completed a sole year in the premier class with the Marc VDS Honda squad in ’18, though he struggled with the tricky RC213-V and failed to score a point all season, leading to a switch back to the Moto2 series the following year with the Dynavolt team.
