Strong Test in Phillip Island for Aegerter and Gardner
On 20th-21st February, the iconic Phillip Island circuit hosted the Dorna Supported Test ahead of the first round of the season, which will take place at the same venue, with both GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team’s riders showing strong and promising pace.
Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner got to try their Yamaha R1 machines for the first time in Australia, with their primary focus on continuing their adaptation to the bikes. On Day 1, Gardner completed 73 laps to find himself 7th (1’31.600), with Aegerter just behind in 9th after 71 laps (1’31.728).
The GYTR GRT Yamaha duo shifted focus twenty-four hours later on to race performance, yet still managed to pull out some impressive lap times. Indeed, Aegerter went 2nd in the very final session to end the test 6th on the combined timesheets (1’30.739, 113 laps); the Swiss saved the best for last and set a flying lap late on Tuesday after also impressing with his race pace. On the other side of the box, local hero Gardner finished in 9th (1’31.073, 115 laps) after consistently featuring in the top 3 for most of Tuesday’s afternoon practice.
Both riders will now enjoy two days off before diving into the season’s opening round at Phillip Island on 24th-26th February.
Dominique Aegerter: 6th, 1’30.739
“The adaption keeps going on; we’re happy with this last test before the beginning of the season. We did one strong lap, and I’m happy with the one I did, even though we know we’re still missing something on our race pace. Anyway, we have good data to work on, all the people in my team did a great job, and we’re ready to start, so I cannot wait for Saturday and Sunday to come.”
Remy Gardner: 9th, 1’31.073
“We’re satisfied with the progress we made. I enjoyed myself at Phillip Island. Even though we didn’t try to do a flying lap, our race pace was not too bad, and the feeling was okay. I cannot wait to begin the Championship; we’ll keep working during these days to progress further; we have good data available to us, so there’s still margin for improvement.”
