On the first day of the official WorldSBK test at Phillip Island, the Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter continued his learning of the Superbike category as he knows how: with mastery and optimism.
Before setting foot in Australia, the representative of the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team had only ridden, as a rookie, four days on the Italian blue and white Yamaha R1: two in Jerez where the Swiss rider had concluded in 6th position, and two in Portimão where he had to settle for 16th place, six tenths behind his teammate Remy gardner, eighth on the timesheet..
But not enough to dampen the morale of the Swiss pilot who remained confident in waiting for this week in the south: “ after these two tests, with a total of four days with this bike, I see myself fully on the right track regarding the transition to Superbike ».
This morning, during FP1, Dominique Aegerter had a good first session by obtaining the 7th fastest time (1'31.907) just 2 tenths behind his teammate from MotoGP, and 0.899 seconds behind the leader Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) on the same machine.
After the lunch break, the number 77 slightly improved its best time to 1'31.728 by continuing its testing and development program, but fell two places in the provisional ranking, 1,054 seconds behind the leader of the day Toprak Razgatlioğlu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), while reducing his gap to 0,128 seconds on his Australian boxmate.
Looking forward to the last day of testing tomorrow, Dominique Aegerter is therefore fully satisfied and has confided in Speedweek. com, emphasizing his pleasure on the track, “this track is simply fantastic with the Superbike” and on the handlebars of his Yamaha, « powerful and fast, just the way I like it ».
After today's tests, different tires, front and rear, several parts from Yamaha, as well as updates for the electronics ", tomorrow's work will be to prepare for the race weekend, " tomorrow we will still have two hours of track time, so we will try to prepare for the race as best we can. With an attack on the time trial on soft tires as well as a long run on hard tires. Portimão is not exactly my favorite circuit. It's not easy to be fast there with a Superbike, and the conditions were very changeable. Here at Phillip Island we immediately had a better package. And if a test starts well, it's also easier to give some direction to the work and make tangible progress. Our first goal is to be fast. A second step consists of managing the grip of the tires over the race distance. Because you can't do long runs always and everywhere. With the limited number of tires we have, we need to work on a basic set up first. This means we stop every five laps and eventually we run out of time. Alvaro Bautista is so much further along in the set up that he can regularly do ten laps in a row. It's enviable. It is also my goal to finish the race with good and consistent lap times. Tomorrow, we'll see how long I can keep my level. »
Tomorrow, the second and last day of this official Superbike test will see the order of the sessions reversed, with the premier category of motorcycles derived from the series entering the track first and finishing their day first, with two days of rest before the racing weekend.
23:10-01:10 – WorldSBK FP1
1:20-03:10 – WorldSSP FP1
03:40-05:40 – WorldSBK FP2
05:50-07:40 – WorldSSP FP2
WSBK Superbike Test Phillip Island J1 combined ranking:
Classification credit: WorldSBK.com
