Aegerter Thrilled with Fourth and Top Independent Rider Status, Gardner Grabs Great Sixth
Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner enjoyed a good Sunday in Assen, as the Swiss rider impressed in Race 2 and managed an excellent 4th place – making him the Top Independent Rider of the race. While the Australian recovered six places to finish 6th in the feature race.
The day started with the usual Warm Up session, and the GYTR GRT Yamaha pair made
the final adjustments. Aegerter finished 7th with a 1’35.196, while Gardner was
13th (1’35.608), both felt ready ahead the two remaining races.
In a shortened 8-lap Tissot Superpole Race, the #77 and the #87 enjoyed a decent
start. Aegerter was in contention for a Top 5 spot, with his teammate just
behind. Unfortunately, Gardner was forced to go wide on Lap 2, dropping to 16th.
The Australian rider did his best to recover as much as he could, showing good
pace and eventually crossing the line in 12th. On the other side of the garage, Aegerter fought until the very end for a second-row start in Race 2, he managed 7th after fighting against Bassani’s Ducati.
The GYTR GRT Yamaha duo started from 7th and 12th on the grid in the final
feature race of the weekend. Aegerter and Gardner got off the line well, gaining
positions at the start. The #77 installed himself in a solid Top 5 place in the early stages,
while the #87 rider made his way through the field to find himself 7th on Lap 8,
going past Honda’s Vierge and Lecuona and Ducati’s Petrucci. With seven laps
to go, Gardner made one final move on BMW’s Redding to take sixth position.
Afterwards, he tried to close the gap with the guys in front to join the Top 5
fight and despite showing promising pace throughout the whole race, he
stayed in 6th until the end.
Meanwhile, Aegerter tried to recover on Pata Yamaha Prometeon’s Locatelli and
Ducati’s Bassani for a podium place. The Swiss star showed great speed in the 21-lap
battle, staying in 5th for the majority of the race. In the latter stages, the #77
rider impressed with blistering pace, eventually catching Bassani for a last lap
showdown. Finally, Domi crossed the line in 5th, before being promoted to 4th
following Bassani’s track limits penalty. This means Domi placed as the Top Independent Rider on the day.
Dominique Aegerter – Superpole Race: P7 / Race 2: P4 (Best Independent Rider)
“That was a great Race 2, finishing 4th and getting top independent is nice. We had a good start and fierce battles until the last chicane. There are still aspects of this bike that I can learn how to better exploit, we’re going step by step. We have a great long-run pace and base setup, but we should be quick in the early stages too. I’m happy with the package we have, Yamaha and the GYTR GRT Team are doing a great job, plus it’s good we can share data with fast guys. We’ll keep working for sure, that is what has got us where we are today. We hope to be in the top group again in Barcelona.”
Remy Gardner – Superpole Race: P12 / Race 2: P6
“Not a bad Race 2, although unfortunately we had bad luck in the sprint race. For sure we need to work on our qualifying sessions, once again starting from behind didn’t help. In the last feature race, our pace was fine and I enjoyed it. The tyre choice was the correct one in my opinion, it was just a shame I lost a lot of time in the opening laps as I got forced wide, but we were still able to perform a good recovery. Let’s keep rolling and progress further, we know there’s potential.”
