News

Dominique Aegerter caused a pleasant surprise on Friday morning when he finished the first session in fifth place. In warmer conditions in the afternoon, however, he was unable to improve on his good feeling from the morning.

End of February is late summer on Phillip Island in South Australia. The start to the first race weekend at the ultra-fast track at the picturesque island was therefore characterised by good conditions. Dominique Aegerter got off to a strong start to the weekend. He surprised himself with fifth place in the first free practice session after experiencing slight difficulties in similar conditions at the same venue a few days ago.

In the afternoon, at the time of the second practice session, temperatures got a slightly warmer. Aegerter and his technical crew tried to take the feeling from earlier and improve it further. All attempts to do so were unsuccessful. The 34-year-old Yamaha rider remained above his time from this morning and was unable to improve on 17th place. At the end of the day, however, he finished sixth in the combined timesheets. Aegerter's performance this morning gives him confidence for the Superpole, which will decide the starting grid, and the first main race on Saturday. 

«ServusTV» will begin its coverage on free-to-air television in German-speaking countries early on Saturday morning at 05:00 CET. A recording of the Superpole will be shown first, followed by preliminary coverage up to the start of the first race. Alternatively, all of the day's sessions will be available on the live streams «ServusTV On» and on the official WorldSBK website, as well as on the «Eurosport Player».

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team, Yamaha YZF R1)
FP1: P5 - 1´29.739 / FP2: P17 - 1´30.676

«This morning, we had a good start in FP1, which I was happy with. I had a good feeling with the bike, so we were able to work with the bike and the electronics. In the afternoon the temperatures slightly increased. So, we tried different tyres and different mappings to see if we could improve my feeling further. But it did not go as well as I had expected. Nevertheless, I am confident because I know that I am capable of setting good lap times. So, we will study the data from this morning, where I was able to set good lap times. Tomorrow we will try the qualifying tyre and then try to do a good Superpole with it. The weather looks set to remain stable and get even hotter. It should stay that way until Sunday. So, I cannot wait to get into the first race and I hope that the guys in Europe will get up early and keep their fingers crossed for us and wish us good results this weekend.»

#AustralianWorldSBK - WSBK Combined Practice Times (FP1/FP2):
1 Nicolo BULEGA / ITA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´28.790 (FP2)
2 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Team Pata GoEleven / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´29.196 +0.406 (FP2)
3 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´29.515 +0.725 (FP1)
…
6 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´29.739 +0.949 (FP1)

#AustralianWorldSBK - WSBK Time Schedule for Saturday February 22nd (CET):
00:00 - 00:20 FP3
03:00 - 03:15 Superpole 
06:00 Race 1 (20 Runden - 88,900 km)