Dominique Aegerter recovered to sixth in the first WorldSBK race of the season at the iconic Phillip Island circuit, while Remy Gardner’s hopes only lasted two laps as he was involved in an incident with another rider, resulting in him crashing out.

Both riders returned to action in the morning with the Free Practice 3, and both enjoyed a good feeling with the R1 to finish inside the top five at the end of the session. Aegerter was fourth on a 1’28.840 with his teammate Gardner just behind in fifth (1’28.901).

Then, the GYTR GRT Yamaha pair enjoyed a decent Tissot Superpole qualifier. An astonishing late charge saw the #77 rider secure a strong fourth position to start from the second row (1’28.403), with the #87 enjoying a decent session too to place himself seventh on a 1’28.604, just few thousandths of a second from the top five.

As the race begun, the Swiss and Aussie riders encountered a difficult getaway, dropping position at the start. The GYTR GRT Yamaha duo started then to make their way through the field, but unfortunately Gardner was hit by another rider and crashed out after just two laps. In the meantime, Aegerter found himself 13th in the early stages. The #77 pulled out then a strong recovery, managing to win places when he had to stop for the flag-to-flag procedure at lap 10, showing overall strong race pace to cross the line in sixth.

Dominique Aegerter – Superpole: P4 / Race 1: P6
“Overall it was a decent race, but the start was not so good. I lost a lot of position and I had to recover from behind and things are never easy when you’re in the middle of the group. Anyway, I tried to make my way through the field, managing to gain places showing good race pace. The strategy with the flag-to-flag was also okay, we were able to win a couple of position. We can be somehow satisfied, considering I missed the January tests and I feel that my body is not in perfect shape. I’ll have one night to recover and come back stronger tomorrow, we know there’s still margin to improve.”

Remy Gardner – Superpole: P7 / Race 1: DNF
“Not the best day for sure, that wasn’t the ideal start of the year. The qualifying was decent, even though not great, but to start from seventh wasn’t too bad. In the start unfortunately I had to close the gas to avoid contact and dropped a couple of position. I felt I could have good speed and I was trying to put myself into a good position, but in turn 10 Bassani hit me and forced me to crash. Anyway, we have two more races to express our potential, let’s stay positive to enjoy a good Sunday.”