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For Dominique Aegerter, a four-week break without riding his Yamaha Superbike came to an end today with 92 laps done on the first of the two-day testing at the Spanish circuit of Montmeló.

32-year-old WorldSBK rookie Dominique Aegerter was highly anticipating this week as the test in Barcelona comes in handy as it shortens the long break in the championship after the second round of the season on the first weekend of March until the next race in Assen at the end of April. In good conditions, the Yamaha rider did 92 laps on Thursday, setting a personal best of 1'42.500 by working on a lot of stuff. At the same point, the two-time Supersport World Champion gained his first experience aboard the powerful Yamaha R1 t the fast track northeast of the Catalan capital.

The test will continue on Friday, when track time doesn’t change for teams and riders on the last day, starting at 10:00am to 06:00pm.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team, Yamaha YZF R1)

"First of all, of course, I want to say that it is good to return aboard my bike. Nevertheless, I needed the first laps to get used to it again after four weeks. It was a long break, besides Barcelona is a new track for me with the Superbike. At the beginning it was quite complicated in terms of the track’s grip conditions, because with this powerful bike the rear tyre is heavily used. So, it was difficult to make a statement about what has been changed after the second or third run with the same tyres. Apart from that, we tried many different things. With the exception of Alvaro Bautista, we are not that far off the guys. Still, we need to improve to be more competitive. But so far, I am satisfied, and on Friday we still have a lot of work to do, because there are many parts that need to be tried and evaluated. This includes a new seat, which should make me feel more comfortable on the bike."

Thursday Practice Times - WorldSBK Test Barcelona:
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´40.500
2 Iker LECOUNA / SPA / Team HRC / Honda CBR1000 RR-R / 1´40.721 +0.221
3 Michael Ruben RINALDI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´40.973 +0.473
9 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´42.000 +1.500