In the Free Practice 1 session, both riders were looking to build confidence on their first time on British soil with their Yamaha R1 machines. Unfortunately, drops of rain affected the whole of FP1, with Gardner suffering a small crash at Turn 12 in the early stages. Luckily, the Australian rejoined quickly, but both he and Aegerter weren’t able to fully exploit the session due to tricky track conditions. Finally, the #87 rider was 16th (1’29.149), with the #77 sitting in 18th place (1’30.041).
The GYTR GRT Yamaha pair were then eager to put in some solid laps in the afternoon on the resurfaced Donington Park circuit; but unfortunately, the rain returned, forcing the WorldSBK grid to stay in their garages for the majority of Free Practice 2. In the end, Aegerter was able to exit for a few laps on wet tyres to finish 7th (1’43.937), while Gardner didn’t set a time.
