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2023/05/06 - FIM Superbike World Championship 2023: Catalunya Round / Saturday - Superpole & Race 1

Things continue to look up in Barcelona

Dominique Aegerter put in a brilliant display on Saturday with a second place in Superpole and finished the first main race of the weekend outside the gates of the Catalan capital in a strong fifth place.

WorldSBK rookie Dominique Aegerter is getting more and more comfortable in the high-profile World Superbike Championship. On Saturday morning, the 32-year-old from Rohrbach in the Canton of Bern stormed onto the front row of the grid for the second time this year and also got off to a good start in second place when the starting lights went out. Aegerter was able to keep pace with the leading group on the first lap before dropping back to seventh place. On the fourth lap, the red flags were shown for a crash by Brazilian Eric Granado.

For the restart, the order after three laps was the ranking for the grid. Aegerter again got a good start but had to fight hard for positions with his direct opponents Andrea Locatelli and Axel Bassani. After 17 exhausting at a hot Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Yamaha rider saw the chequered flag in fifth place. This moved Aegerter to sixth overall in the points table.

The fourth race weekend of the current championship continues on Sunday with the Superpole race at 11:00 and Race 2, which starts at 14:00. ServusTV offers comprehensive coverage of the event in Barcelona in German-speaking countries.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha YZF R1)
Grid position 2nd / Race 1: P5

"I think we can be happy about a very strong weekend so far. But to be honest, I have to admit that maybe I expected a bit more from the first race, mainly because we had a fantastic race pace yesterday and this morning, we were able to set a superfast lap time with only Bautista was a bit faster in Superpole. So, we were able to put a strong package together. Second on the grid will also be very important in the sprint race tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how the balance of performances will be distributed over these 10 laps."

"At the restart I had to start from seventh on the third row, so I was a bit caught up in the pack, and I also had to fight hard for my position. It was also important to keep an eye on tyre management. I tried to take care of it as much as possible. Still, towards the end of the race I struggled a bit by lacking rear grip. In this respect we have to improve a bit for tomorrow, and hopefully we can get a better result then."

"After today, the question is obviously again whether our first podium is possible tomorrow. But for that we need a strong sprint race to secure a good starting position for the second main race. We also do not know how fast our opponents will be and which tyres they will use. At 11:00am the temperatures are not yet as hot as in the afternoon, as they were today with almost 50 degrees on the asphalt. But I think if we manage to have a better feeling for the front and a bit more grip at the rear, we can fight for a top-5 finish. If we can have a strong race like today, it will be good for my experience to understand even better how I have to manage my race in such conditions. But for now, it was good to be able to show our potential. A big thank you to my team and to Yamaha for their support."

#CatalanWorldSBK - Superpole:
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´40.264
2 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´40.737 +0.473
3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´40.761 +0.497

#CatalanWorldSBK - Race 1 (17 Laps):
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / 29´06.615
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +8.864
3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +8.927
5 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +14.206

WorldSBK Standing:
1 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Ducati / 199
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 138
3 Andrea LOCATELLI / ITA / Yamaha / 117
6 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Yamaha / 61

#CatalanWorldSBK – Time Schedule for Sunday May 7th (CEST):
09:00 - 09:15 Warm Up
11:00 Superpole-Race (10 Laps - 46,570 km)
14:00 Race 2 (20 Laps - 93,140 km)