Running a special yellow and black livery, paying tribute to Ten Kate Yamaha’s past WorldSSP success at their home race, Aegerter was quickest out of the block early in Free Practice 1. The Swiss rider dropped to second in the final moments, but was back on top in the afternoon session, with his time 0.041s faster than Odendaal.
The Evan Bros Yamaha rider waited until the final moments of FP1 to show his pace, besting Aegerter’s time to go fastest of all. In FP2, the South African was the only rider to get within half-a-second of the #77 rider, ending the day second overall.
For Gonzalez, this morning marked his first experience on board a Yamaha R6 of the Cathedral of Speed, but he was quick to adapt, posting the fourth fastest time. In the afternoon, the Spaniard continued to improve and was third overall to complete the Yamaha 1-2-3 on Friday.
GMT94 Yamaha’s Jules Cluzel was fifth quickest in FP1, while he made a small improvement in the afternoon session in terms of time. With others making gains around, that saw the French rider end the day sixth fastest, albeit just 0.027s off the rider ahead.
Hannes Soomer, riding for the Kallio Racing Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team, was eighth overall, despite being unable to improve his time in the afternoon, with GMT94 Yamaha’s Federico Caricasulo also recording his best lap in FP1 to go 11th on combined times.
Yamaha bLU cRU graduate Luca Bernardi was 14th overall, with Evan Bros Yamaha’s latest signing Péter Sebestyén making a step forward in the afternoon to end the day in 17th. Kallio Racing Yamaha’s Vertti Takala was 19th, with Ten Kate Yamaha’s Galang Hendra Pratama 21st, and Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Maria Herrera 26th.
For Friday’s combined times, click here.
