Dominique Aegerter enjoyed a great Saturday in Barcelona, snatching second in the Tissot Superpole and finishing fifth in Race 1, once again taking the honour of ‘Top Independent Rider’. Remy Gardner faced a challenging day but brought home points with 11th in the feature race.

The day started with the Free Practice 3 session, with the GYTR GRT Yamaha pair still working to build pace over the race distance. Gardner was 8th with a 1’42.091, his teammate was 12th (1’42.377).

Both riders performed well in a strong Superpole qualifying session. Aegerter managed to improve his best time to earn a superb 2nd (1’40.737), while Gardner was unlucky with some late traffic, eventually placing 7th (1’41.071).

In Race 1, the GYTR GRT Yamaha duo did not have a perfect getaway, dropping positions, with Aegerter 7th and Gardner 9th. After three laps, the race had a red-flag stoppage, meaning the Swiss rider and the Australian had to resume from those places.

At the restart, this time the #77 and #87 riders had a better start, defending their spots on the opening lap. Then, over the course of the 17-lap dash, Aegerter managed to fight for a Top 5 finish, which meant placing as the Top Independent Rider as well. On the other side, Gardner got hit in the early stages of the restart, having to continue with a bent exhaust. Anyway, the Australian tried to keep his momentum, crossing the line in 11th after struggling with the tyres in the final part of the race.

Dominique Aegerter – Superpole: P2 / Race 1: P5 (Top Independent Rider)
“It hasn’t been a bad race, but honestly we expected a bit more after what we showed yesterday and in Superpole. Of course, we had a great start to the day by getting second on the grid and I’m very happy about it, I hope it will help tomorrow in the sprint race. We’ll try to analyse the data to improve our performance in the remaining two races. It would be nice to finish in the Top 5 again, and as Top Independent Rider. We’re proving how strong we are, but at the same time we know there’s still margin to improve to close the gap with those in front of us.”

Remy Gardner – Superpole: P7 / Race 1: P11
“We managed to have a good qualifying session, then the first feature race was a bit tough. I got hit in the opening laps and racing with a bent exhaust wasn’t too easy. We also struggled a bit in the latter stages of the race with the tyres. There are still two races on the way, we’ll check how to improve the performance and try to find some more solutions for tomorrow.”