WSBK 2023: Dominique Aegerter will be the rookie of the year, and it’s a Ducati rider who says so

In the three-way competition between Danilo Petrucci on Ducati, Remy Gardner and Dominique Aegerter on Yamaha, which will take place for the status of the best rookie in WSBK this year, it is the first named who currently has the best popularity rating. But after four days of pre-season testing, divided equally between Jerez and Portimao, it was the Swiss double WSS World Champion who took a slight moral advantage. So much so that even in the Ducati clan, he is designated as the favorite of this symbolic but sought-after competition between a double winner in MotoGP, a Moto2 World Champion, and therefore the winner of the last two campaigns in Supersport... Or not really rookies!

But 2023 will still be their first appearance in WSBK. In Jerez, Danilo Petrucci took the spotlight, but in Portimao, the same Italian achieved nothing. On the Portuguese track, which is more difficult to understand, with numerous elevation changes and blind turns, Petrux lost, after two days, almost 2,3 seconds behind the best time of his colleague from the brand. Alvaro Bautista…The Italian, who is the only speed driver to be able to boast of a victory in a Dakar special, recognized a lack of confidence in his 4 Panigale V2023R.

But he received support from his team boss Marco Barnabo : " we suffered more than expected on this track », admitted the man from the Barni team. “ We tried many configuration variations on both bikes to improve Danilo's feel. We will analyze the data with Ducati engineers to find a set-up suited to Petrucci’s riding style ».

"Je suis encore plus surpris par Dominique Aegerter, il est aussi très rapide"

Despite this setback, the two-time MotoGP winner earned the respect of his opponents with his first appearances in Superbike. “ Danilo still has a lot to learn about tires and motorcycling “, declared the world champion Alvaro Bautista à speedweek. " In Jerez he did very well and he was fast. But winter tests are winter tests. Just looking at a driver's fastest lap may not be the truth. But in any case, he is a good driver and he can finish in the top five ».

Unfailing encouragement that is surprisingly not found in his teammate Michael Rinaldi : “ he doesn't surprise me, I rate Danilo very well he says. " He's a very fast rider and has won MotoGP races – that's not easy to do ". Certainly, but his favors go elsewhere… “ But I am even more surprised by Aegerter, he is also very fast. I think he will be the rookie of the year ". The official Ducati therefore bet on a satellite pilot Yamaha .