The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team returned to action with a two-day test on 30th-31st March at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, to prepare for the upcoming 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship rounds.

Remy Gardner and Dominique Aegerter were eager to work on their Yamaha R1 WorldSBK machines to improve their feeling. They enjoyed dry conditions both days throughout the test session, where almost the whole WorldSBK field was on track.

On Day 1, the GYTR GRT Yamaha duo ran from 10:00 to 18:00, without any break, aiming to build confidence. The #87 completed 85 laps, recording a 1’41.728, while his Swiss teammate finished with seven more, clocking a 1’42.000 as personal best from 92 laps in total.

On the second day, both Aegerter and Gardner kept putting in the laps in Barcelona, finding dry tarmac once again. After working on settings to improve their speed, in the latter stages the GYTR GRT Yamaha pair went for flying laps, both improving their lap times. Thereby, the Swiss rider set a 1’40.857 (88 laps) to be sixth fastest, with the Australian registering a 1’41.294 (65 laps) to finish just three places behind.

The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team will now move to TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands, for the third round of the 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship season on 21st-23rd April.

Dominique Aegerter (1’40.857, 180 laps)
“For sure I’m happy to be back on the bike! This was once again a new track for me with the Superbike machine, so it was nice to have the chance to test in Barcelona. We tried many different things and we’re not too far away, even though we know we need to improve to be more competitive. The grip was not amazing and the Superbike uses the rear quite a lot, we have to manage it. Anyway, we took a lot of data and positive things, we know there’s work to do to be competitive, but we’re faithful we’ll be ready for Assen.”

Remy Gardner (1’41.294, 150 laps)
“Overall it was a good test; we worked quite well and we had good pace in the final part. We were quite fast with the softer tyre: we needed to find the speed and I think we did it. Also, we focused on finding a solution to the past problems we had and we think we’re heading in the right direction. We tested some parts as well and we’ll try to be as ready as possible for the next round in the Netherlands.”