News

After the second main race on Lombok, Dominique Aergerter looks back on a good start into his new challenge, even if Sunday in Indonesia did not go according to his expectations.

Although the weather was merciful to all participants on Sunday, as it remained dry until the end despite dark skies, it was very unsettled at times on the Mandalika Circuit. First, the morning "Superpole Race" had to be abandoned due to an oil spill and later the second main race of the weekend after a heavy crash of Dutchman Michael van der Mark and German Philipp Öttl, who crashed into Van der Mark's bike.

As a result, both races were shortened and restarted, which put Dominique Aegerter at a severe disadvantage. In the races so far this season, the 32-year-old Swiss had always come up trumps with a strong final phase over the full race distance. While the Yamaha rider was unable to go beyond tenth place in the "Superpole Race", an error in riding cost Aegerter many positions in the afternoon, which he was unable to make up by the time he reached the finish. At the time of his ride-out, he was well on the way to advancing into the top 10. The twelfth place at the end of a strenuous season opener with the two races in Australia and Indonesia was not at all to the taste of the so far surprising newcomer in the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team.

Until the next event at the famous TT circuit of Assen in the north of the Netherlands, the championship will take a break of almost seven weeks.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha YZF R1)
Grid position: 12th / Superpole-Race: P11 / Grid position: 12 / Race 2: P12

"Today's race day had a lot to offer in terms of drama, as there was red flagged in both the Superpole race and the second main race. That did not play into my cards at all. The goal for Superpole would have been to make up a few places so that we could have started from the front in the afternoon. We were involved in a tough battle, but after the re-start we lacked a little something to assert ourselves better. In the end I finished tenth but was moved back one position due to a penalty. On the last lap there was a contact with another driver. My start to the second race in the afternoon was good again. We were already at the end of the chasing group when the red flag was shown again. After that the distance was shortened to 14 laps and we started on the used tire like most of the others."

"In the end, disappointment prevails a little bit because not everything worked the way I wanted it to. We will have to take a closer look to see what we can improve. Nevertheless, I can look back on two nice race weekends as a Superbike rookie. But they were also two exhausting ones, so I'm now looking forward to a bit of a vacation before we have a test at the end of the month. This will certainly help us to further improve our competitiveness. After that I'm looking forward to the next race at the end of April in Assen, where I always enjoy riding. Finally, a big thank you to the whole team, all the sponsors and also the Indonesian fans, whose support is fantastic every time."

#IDNWorldSBK - Superpole-Race (8 Laps):
1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 12´26.052
2 Andrea LOCATELLI / ITA / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +1.110
3 Alex LOWES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +1.372
11 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +8.400

#IDNWorldSBK - Race 2 (14 Laps):
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 21´43.781
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +1.218
3 Xavi VIERGE / SPA / Team HRC / Honda CBR1000 RR-R / +1.832
12 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +11.264

WorldSBK Standing:
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Ducati / 112
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 75
3 Andrea LOCATELLI / ITA / Yamaha / 70
10 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Yamaha / 24