A Strong First Race in Aragon Earns Remy Gardner Seventh

23-09-2023

A Strong First Race in Aragon Earns Remy Gardner Seventh

Remy Gardner enjoyed a consistent and determined ride in Race 1 at Motorland Aragon to earn seventh place, while Dominique Aegerter endured a challenging Saturday, salvaging a points-scoring position.

The day started with the Free Practice 3 session, and the Aussie rider was working to build pace over the race distance, showing solid progress to finish in a great third place (1’49.363). Unfortunately, his teammate suffered an early crash which ruled him out of the session, he suffered some pain but escaped without any serious harm.

Afterwards, Gardner qualified ninth (1’49.031) in a hotly contested Tissot Superpole qualifier, just missing out on a second row start by less than two tenths of a second. On the other side of the garage, Aegerter struggled a bit to regain his confidence following the previous crash and settled for a solid 16th (1’50.005).

In Race 1, Gardner dropped a couple of positions at the start, but he quickly picked his way through the field. Throughout the 18-lap contest, the #87 showed strong speed to gain more places, eventually crossing the line in a solid seventh. His Swiss teammate had consistent pace, but he struggled in the latter stages of the race with grip. Aegerter salvaged 15th position and valuable data for tomorrow’s races.

FULL RESULTS - WorldSBK - FREE PRACTICE 3

FULL RESULTS - WorldSBK - SUPERPOLE

FULL RESULTS - WorldSBK - RACE 1

Superpole: P9 / Race 1: P7

Remy Gardner

Honestly, we expected a little bit more in the Superpole following the strong Free Practice 3, but our grid position wasn’t too bad in the end. We faced a tricky start losing a couple of places, but we managed to fight back through the field and show consistent speed during the whole race. Now we’ve got more data to work on and we’ll try to improve further tomorrow, starting from the Tissot Superpole Race to achieve a better starting position for Race 2.

Superpole: P16 / Race 1: P15

Dominique Aegerter

Unfortunately we suffered an early crash in FP3. That was my fault and I’m sorry to the guys. The bike hit the walls so it was quite destroyed, but the crew did a great job on preparing my spare bike and getting me back on track for the Superpole. In the crash I suffered some pain on my already injured shoulder, but luckily nothing serious. Jumping on a different bike wasn’t easy, as it’s never the same one you’re used to, so getting the confidence back was difficult, especially in the qualifying session where you have only a few laps available, so we couldn’t climb higher than 16th. Nevertheless, I was confident we could fight for the Top 10 in Race 1; we managed to stay with the group fighting for the Top 7 for most of the race, but in the final stages I struggled with front and rear grip. We have some data to work on and we’ll try to put everything together to come back stronger tomorrow.