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Dominique Aegerter had imagined the end of the long summer break with Friday’s free practice sessions in France in a different way.

The first race weekend to kick off the final quarter of the season is marked by a continental heat wave. Midsummer temperatures were a hurdle to overcome for all participants on Friday. In the case of Dominique Aegerter, lack of track knowledge with the more powerful Yamaha superbike was added to the problem, so that he did not get beyond 14th place in the morning. A technical defect slowed the 32-year-old Swiss in the second session. 16th place in the combined timesheet for the day therefore does not really reflect his true potential.

On Saturday morning, the third free practice session is all about fine-tuning before Aegerter aims to secure a good grid position in Superpole for the first main race of the weekend. Start time is at 14:00. Eurosport will be live in German-speaking countries, as will the paid stream on worldsbk.com, where all sessions can be seen. ServusTV will bring a recording.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GTR Yamaha WorldSBK Team, Yamaha YZF R1)
FP1: P14 - 1´38.128 / FP2: P16 - 1´38.472

"I am happy to be back on the track because it was a long break. In the morning I needed a few laps to get used to the bike again and it was also my first time with the Yamaha R1 at Magny-Cours. Unfortunately, in the afternoon we had a technical problem with the engine that cost me time and prevented me from improving my feeling and lap times. However, I am confident that we will be stronger again tomorrow. We will work hard to have enough track time because we know it will be a very hot race. I am also happy to see a lot of fans here; it is nice to feel their support."

#FRAWorldSBK - WSBK Combined Practice Times (FP1/FP2):
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´36.900 (FP1)
2 Michale Ruben RINALDI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´36.973 +0.073 (FP2)
3 Garrett GERLOFF / USA / Bonovo action BMW / BMW M1000 RR / 1´36.981 +0.081 (FP2)
16 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´38.128 +1.228 (FP1)

#FRAWorldSBK - WSBK Time Schedule for Satuday September 9th (CEST):
09:00 - 9:30 FP3
11:10 - 11:25 Superpole 
14:00 Race 1 (21 Laps - 92.631 km)