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DOMINIQUE AEGERTER DOMINANT IN THE RAIN TO WIN THE SAN MARINO GP

The Swiss rider goes over the water on Sunday to celebrate his second victory in his grand prix career.

After marvellous summer weather on the previous days, a thunderstorm arrived the Misano area this morning and the first rain shower did not take long. Whereas the rain was not so heavy during the warm up session, conditions became more critical for the race.

Dominique Aegerter, however, was initially a bit worried about the changed weather. After consistently strong performing during all practice sessions, with qualifying for third position on the starting grid as climax thus far, due to the rain he saw his chances of achieving a top result disappearing. But as soon the lights went out, the Suter rider from the canton of Bern showed great skills dealing with these extremely difficult track conditions.

The championship moves over now to Spain’s outback for the Gran Premio de Aragón at MotorLand Aragón in two weeks.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (Kiefer Racing, Suter MMX2), Winner (Championship position 8th, 88 points):

"I’m so happy. I had to wait more than three years for this moment to finally be at the top again. I’m very happy for myself and also for my team, it’s such an important success. At this point, I would like to thank everybody for the great work we have done this weekend. But this morning, I did not trust my eyes when I woke up and saw that it was raining. So, I thought our plan would not work for today, as we had a really strong pace in the dry. I was therefore not so pleased with the rain."

"During the race, the conditions were very difficult. There was a lot of water in many places which made it very slippery. When Franco (Morbidelli) crashed in front of me, I thought to myself, I must remain calm now and not pushing too much. So, then I was able to ride a good pace and I had some nice fights with Tom (Lüthi). In the later stages, Hafizh (Syahrin) closed the gap to us with giant steps but I also could go a bit faster. The last laps still lasted an eternity though, I managed to open a small gap to Tom. But I realized that if he could go a faster pace, then he would pass me. On the other side, I could also image that he had the championship in his mind."

"In any case, I definitely wanted to win this race and I would have done everything to make myself broad if Tom would have launched an attack. On the other hand, I had nothing to lose, yet it was a huge challenge to stay calm and focussed. It’s a great feeling and I think Tom and I have written history today. For a small country like Switzerland, such a success does not happen every day, foremost because we have no race tracks. We all waited a long time for this moment. Thanks to my team and to Suter. They gave me a winning bike this weekend."

Moto2™ GP di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini – Race Classification after 26 Laps:
1 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Kiefer Racing / Suter MMX2 51´39.709
2 Thomas LÜTHI / SWI / CarXpert Interwetten / KALEX / +1.400
3 Hafizh SYAHRIN / MAL / Petronas Raceline Malaysia / KALEX / +7.875

Moto2™ World Standing:
1 Franco MORBIDELLI / ITA / Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS / KALEX / 223
2 Thomas LÜTHI / SWI / Garage Plus Interwetten / KALEX / 214
3 Alex MARQUEZ / SPA / Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS / KALEX / 155
8 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Kiefer Racing / Suter MMX2 / 88

Next race: 24 September, MotorLand Aragón / Spain