A crash on Saturday morning cost Dominique Aegerter a lot of confidence for the all-important Superpole and the first main race of the weekend in Aragón.
After a promising start to round ten of the season, Dominique Aegerter suffered a minor setback in the third free practice session. A slip over the front wheel at least had no health consequences for Aegerter, but his race bike was scrap after hitting the track barrier.
Aegerter then had to contest Superpole, in which the starting grid was determined, and the afternoon race on his second bike. During time attack, the 32-year-old Swiss rider was unable to build up confidence quickly enough and did not finish higher than 15th in the race due to grip problems.
On Sunday, Aegerter has two chances to add to his points tally with Superpole Race at 11:00 and the second race over the long distance at 14:00.
#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha YZF R1)
Grid position 16th Race 1: P15
"Unfortunately, Saturday did not start so well. The crash in FP3 was my fault. I was once a little too late on the brakes, and I lost the front. Unfortunately, I fell on the still slightly bruised shoulder, which was painful, and the pain afterwards was no help. To make matters worse, the bike was a total loss as it hit the wall. My guys in the garage had their hands full afterwards preparing my second bike. The situation was not very favourable for me, because jumping onto a different bike in Superpole of all things costs a bit of confidence. On top of that, you can only do two fast laps in qualifying. That makes it difficult to find a rhythm and regain confidence. So, 16th place on the grid should come as no surprise."
"Still, I was confident of finishing the race in the range of the top 10. I raed in a big group for a long time, which reached seventh place. At this point I would like to congratulate my team mate Remy Gardner, who finished a strong race in seventh place. I, on the other hand, was no longer able to keep up with them because I was losing more and more grip at the front and rear. As a result, I could no longer go to the limit to overtake the BWMs in front of me. I am sorry for my crew that I crashed in the morning and therefore we lost this session. But after the race we have more data to work with. Nevertheless, the situation is by no means easy, because on Sunday morning the temperatures during warm-up are still very chilly, which makes it difficult to improve the bike."
#AragonWorldSBK - Superpole:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´47.973
2 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´48.324 +0.351
3 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´48.523 +0.550
16 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´50.005 +2.032
#AragonWorldSBK - Race 1 (18 laps):
1 Michael Ruben RINALDI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 33´18.957
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +1.253
3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +2.837
15 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +24.523
WorldSBK Standing:
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Ducati / 467
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 430
3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki / 306
9 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Yamaha / 124
#AragonWorldSBK - Time Schedule for Sunday September 24th (CEST):
09:00 - 09:15 Warm Up
11:00 Superpole-Race (10 Laps - 50.770 km)
14:00 Race 2 (18 Laps - 91.386 km)