There was drama everywhere you looked in Race 1 during the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the TT Circuit Assen and several riders were able to take advantage of this drama to record their best finish in WorldSBK to date. Swiss rookie Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) claimed sixth place in Race 1 to take his highest finish in his short WorldSBK career as the double WorldSSP Champion continues to impress in his rookie campaign.
Aegerter won four times at Assen in WorldSSP when he raced for Ten Kate Racing Yamaha and he continued to show strong speed at the circuit in his first WorldSBK round at the iconic Dutch circuit. He finished fourth in the combined classification on Friday and took seventh in Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session. His pace in the race allowed him to move up the order in the closing stages to record a top-six finish for the first time in WorldSBK.
Aegerter dropped down to eighth place on Lap 1 before falling out of the top ten altogether by the end of Lap 2, completing the second lap of 21 in 13th place. He stayed there for the third lap before his charge started and he was running in tenth by the end of Lap 6. He moved up to ninth the following lap before gaining another position to run in eighth on Lap 9. He would stay in eighth until the final few laps of the race, where he passed Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) to move into sixth place at the end of the race.
Discussing fighting with factory riders from other manufacturers, Aegerter said: “It’s always nice when you can be close to the front. For sure, it’s one goal to be the best Yamaha rider. When we finished in sixth position, like we did in the test, it’s not so bad for me but I would like to finish more in front! I have my own goals and I think we are, the Yamaha family, working together to beat especially Ducati and Bautista and also the other fast riders. I hope we can go closer to the top five as a team. When you can see the top three guys, they are somehow a little bit back to last year with their 1-2-3, so they are at a little bit of a different level but I think, when I can work strongly and have a better understanding of the bike, power and electronics, I think I’m able to be there, to learn from them. My goal is to finish in the top ten. Sixth is good and the next goal is a top five.”
Aegerter has had several tests with the GRT Yamaha squad and is now in his third round weekend with the team but he is still adjusting to the Yamaha YZF-R1 machine, having been competing on the manufacturer’s R6 model in WorldSSP as he claimed the World Championship title in 2021 and 2022 with Yamaha.
Explaining how he is still adapting, Aegerter said: “I’m still a rookie and this bike has so many different things you can change, whether it’s chassis setup or the electronics settings with traction control, anti-wheelie and power delivery… it takes time to understand and to have a base setup that suits your riding style. We have really good technicians and we can also sure data with the other riders. I think we are close but still we need some more time to understand each practice, each race, when to put what inside and I think we, step by step, are getting closer. Today was my best result and it’s already a good sign.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com