GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team’s Remy Gardner recovered to 11th in Race 1 at Imola, showing consistent race pace despite his lack of familiarity with the circuit, while Dominique Aegerter was forced to retire with four laps to go as the clutch of his bike began to slip in the latter stages of the race.

The riders returned to action in Saturday morning’s Free Practice 3 to clock more laps on Italian soil and keep building their knowledge of the technical track, and both managed to improve their pace. Gardner finished 7th on a 1’47.128, with Aegerter 16th (1’47.817).

Afterwards, the GYTR GRT Yamaha duo felt confident to attack the Tissot Superpole qualifier, although eventually the #77 and the #87 couldn’t manage more than 12th (1’46.973) and 16th (1’47.296) respectively.

In Race 1, Gardner and Aegerter did their best to recover as many places as possible. The Australian dropped a couple of positions at the beginning due to an excursion in the gravel trap but he came on strong in the latter stages of the race to recover from P18 to P11. His Swiss teammate showed consistent pace in the early stages but was then forced to retire four laps before the finish line.

Tissot Superpole Results
Race 1 Results

Remy Gardner – Superpole: P16 / Gara 1: P11
“Track conditions were very hot, definitely not easy to manage over the course of the 19-lap race. Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes dropping some positions in the opening laps, but afterwards our pace was not so bad and we managed to comeback to P11 and earn valuable points. I’m also happy I could fight until the very end, I hope we can make further progress tomorrow.”

Dominique Aegerter – Superpole: P12 / Gara 1: DNF
“Today we improved our performance, getting closer to the top guys. We’re still struggling in the slow chicane, but we made progress. In qualifying we were able to make another step forward, even though our starting grid position was not optimal. Then, in Race 1, I was on the limit in the opening laps. We faced very hot conditions and the behavior of the bike was slightly different. In the latter stages of the race unfortunately the clutch started to slip and I was forced to retire. We hope tomorrow that I can take a top nine position in the sprint race to get a better grid position for the final feature race.”