Swiss youngster Thomas Lüthi started racing in 1997 when he was only eleven, in his local Pocketbike Championship. After finishing in the top three in his two first seasons, he clinched a couple of titles in 1999 and 2000, before moving to the Adac Junior Cup, in which he took sixth overall. In 2002, he was third overall in the 125cc German Championship and second in the 125cc European Championship. He then had the opportunity to make his Grand Prix debut, competing in seven races and taking a promising ninth place at Estoril.

In 2003, his first full campaign in the World Championship saw him taking second at Catalunya in a thrilling race against Dani Pedrosa, but his lack of consistency meant that he could only take 15th overall. The 2004 campaign was a nightmare for the rider from Oberdiesbach, as his season was marred by numerous crashes and injuries. His best result was 11th at Sepang and finished the season 25th overall.

However, a rejuvenated 125cc effort in 2005 saw him emerging as one of the strongest riders during winter testing, form which led ultimately him to the World title in the lower cylinder class, with four wins and eight podiums in total. But after another injury-affected season in 2006 when unsuccessfully defending his title, Lüthi moved up to 250cc in 2007 and finished eighth in the standings. Continuing with Emmi-Caffe Latte onboard a factory Aprilia machine in 2008 Lüthi finally achieved his first 250cc podium finish at Mugello after a number of near misses over the previous 18 months, but slipped to eleventh in the final rankings having missed three races due to a big crash at Indianapolis, in which he injured his left hand.

In 2009 Tom started once again with the Emmi-Caffe Latte team and missed out from a Top Ten result only in 4 of the 16 races.