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Dominique Aegerter impressed with strong performances on Saturday at Phillip Island. Fourth in Superpole, he stormed to sixth place in the first race of the season.

In significantly improved conditions with less wind and more sunshine, Dominique Aegerter got off to a good start on the first day of the first decisions at the World Championship opener in Australia. And this despite the fact that the 33-year-old is still missing important test and training kilometres after got infected by avirus a month ago.

However, Aegerter's fourth place in the third free practice session in the morning indicated that the closer the race gets, the more you have to have him on the list. At least for a hot lap in qualifying trim. The Yamaha rider promptly confirmed this with fourth place on the grid. At the start of the first race, he was unable to use this good starting position to his advantage and lost many positions up to the first corner. However, the longer the race went on, the faster and more competitive he became. After the obligatory pit stop to change tyres, he quickly found himself in the top ten until Aegerter was finally able to snatch sixth place from Dutch rider Michael van der Mark.

The Superpole race (03:00 CET) and the second main race (06:00 CET) of the weekend are on the program on Sunday. The Superpole race will be held without a pit stop, while a tyre change is again mandatory for the second main race. Eurosport 1 will broadcast live, alternatively the action can also be followed via the "ServusTV on" app and via live stream on the official WorldSBK website.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha YZF R1)
Grid position 4 / Race 1: P6

"Saturday began with further progress. We were faster again in FP3, and we finished fourth on the grid in qualifying. I was very happy with my starting position on the second row, even though Andrea Iannone benefited from my slipstream and pushed me off the front row at the last moment. Unfortunately, my start to the race wasn't so good, as the guys in front of me crossed my line a bit and I had to close the throttle a bit. In addition, Toprak Razgatlioglu came dangerously close to my front wheel, so I had to close the throttle even further. As a result, I dropped back from fourth to 13th place in a flash, where I was involved in a big battle in the midfield."

"When everyone's tyres were still fresh, it was difficult to overtake. There were also some very experienced riders in the group, like Jonathan Rea. That made catching up even more difficult. But thanks to the good strategy that my team worked out, we were able to make up a few positions by the end. But that wasn't the only decisive factor, we were also very fast. In the final stage, I had a very stubborn opponent in Michael van der Mark. It was no child's play to get past him. Nevertheless, I was able to prevail on the last lap and crossed the finish line in sixth place. I'm very happy with these ten points for that. Considering the situation with the virus infection at the end of January and the associated lack of days of testing, we can be very satisfied with our first race of the season. We can certainly improve a bit more tomorrow. But before that, I need a good night's sleep tonight to recover well, because my body is not yet 100 percent fit."

#AUSWorldSBK – WSBK Superpole:
1 Nicolo BULEGA / ITA / Auruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´27.916
2 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Team GoEleven / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´28.154 +0.238
3 Alex LOWES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´28.239 +0.323
4 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´28.403 +0.487 

#AUSWorldSBK – WSBK Race 1 (20 Laps):
1 Nicolo BULEGA / ITA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 30´55.801
2 Andrea LOCATELLI / ITA / Pata Prometeon Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1 / +2.280
3 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Team GoEleven / Ducati Panigale V4R / +2.630
6 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +8.333

WorldSBK Standing:
1 Nicolo BULEGA / ITA / Ducati / 25
2 Andrea LOCATELLI / ITA / Yamaha / 20
3 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ducati / 16
6 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Yamaha / 10

#AUSWorldSBK - Time Schedule for Sunday February 25th (CET):
00:30 - 00:40 Warm Up
03:00 Superpole-Race (10 Laps - 44.450 km)
06:00 Race 2 (20 Laps - 88.900 km)