The opening race of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship proved challenging for the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK team as Dominique Aegerter taking a 12th place finish at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Both riders returned to action in the morning for Free Practice 3, with Gardner enjoying a good feeling with the R1, improving his lap time from Friday to finish ninth on a 1’29.565. Aegerter was 16th on a 1’30.215.

The Australian enjoyed a strong Tissot Superpole qualifier with a late charge to secure ninth on the grid and a front row start for the opening race of the year. Aegerter qualified 15th.

As Race 1 begun, Aegerter enjoyed a decent getaway, managing to make up places in the early stages of the race. Looking strong, Aegeter showed consistent pace joining a tight pack of riders battling for the top six. Following entering the pits for the mandatory flag-to-flag stop on lap nine, he rejoined in 11th, battling until the end for a top ten finish, eventually crossing the line 12th.

Gardner’s hopes of heroics at home came to an abrupt end with a crash at turn four on the opening lap after a strong start to the race. He rejoined the race and showed the speed to climb back into the points, but was forced to retire in the second half of the race with a technical issue.

Dominique Aegerter – Superpole: P15 / Race 1: P12
“It wasn’t an easy day, but at the end we scored some points. We tried to find the same feeling I had yesterday morning, but conditions were different and it was tough to find this feeling. In Superpole I struggled to find a good lap time, which made things complicated for Race 1. Our start was not too bad and I was able to recover some places, joining a very tight pack battling for the front. Following the flag-to-flag procedure, it wasn’t easy to find the rhythm back, but we managed to be consistent until the end. We’ll try to improve our performance tomorrow for sure, starting from the Superpole Race where we’ll try to attack the top 9 to gain some places for Race 2.”

Remy Gardner – Superpole: P9 – Race 1: DNF
“A disappointing day for sure, we’ll try to bounce back. Superpole wasn’t too bad at all and that’s the positive thing we could take from today. The lap time was okay and made us able to start from the third row, which left us confident ahead of Race 1. Then, I tried to push from the beginning, but unfortunately I ended up crashing in turn four; I rejoined trying to take at least some points, but in the end we were also forced to retire due to a technical issue. That wasn’t our day at all, that’s it. We’ll push hard to bounce back tomorrow, that’s for sure, and we’ll give it our best.”