On Friday, during the visit of the FIM Superbike World Championship to the traditional circuit of Donington Park, the weather showed its typical side for this area.
After a sunny Thursday, a change in the weather made for mixed conditions at the start of the sixth race weekend in the East Midlands. In light drizzling this morning, Dominique Aegerter kept his risk to a minimum, which meant 18th place in the timesheet in the end. With a little more rain, the Yamaha rider tried to get a feel for the newly surfaced track in the second practice session. But the mixed conditions did not allow any helpful insights.
Aegerter and his crew in the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team now look ahead to a busy FP3 on Saturday morning before heading into Superpole, where the grid will be decided. The first main race of the weekend will start a little later at 14:00. In German-speaking countries, ServusTV is live on air, as is the stream on worldsbk.com.
#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GTR Yamaha WorldSBK Team, Yamaha YZF R1)
FP1: P18 - 1´30.041 / FP2: P7 - 1´43.937
"The first thing I want to say is that the track’s operators have done a good job with the new asphalt. There are much less bumps now and it looks like the new surface will provide a lot of grip. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate today, so we could not do many laps during both sessions. In the morning it was at least enough for a few laps in the dry, although it kept drizzling lightly. So, I did not push too hard, which cost me a better position in the end. But I also did not want to make any stupid mistakes. It is always a bit risky in conditions like that."
"In the second practice we went out with rain tyres to get a feeling. But the track was half wet and half dry, which did absolutely nothing. The only thing I can think of about these conditions is «Welcome to England». The weather is supposed to be better and more stable for tomorrow. So, it is going to be a busy FP3 for us to work out a complete race set-up. By that I do not just mean the bike, but also me and the tyre choice. Hopefully we will have a lucky hand in this."
#GBRWorldSBK - WSBK Combined Practice Times (FP1/FP2):
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´27.627 (FP1)
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´27.639 +0.012 (FP2)
3 Philipp ÖTTL / GER / Team GoEleven / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´27.757 +0.130 (F12)
18 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´30.041 +2.414 (FP1)
#GBRWorldSBK - WSBK Time Schedule for Saturday July 1st (CEST):
10:00 - 10:30 FP3
12:10 - 12:25 Superpole
15:00 Race 1 (23 Laps - 92.529 km)