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Dominique Aegerter fought his way up to ninth place in the first main race in Portimao in what an incredibly physically demanding competition was.

The 33-year-old motorcycle racing professional from the canton of Bern had imagined the first race day at the World Championshi’s visit to the rollercoaster track of Portimao in the south of Portugal with its very special schedule a bit differently. Finishing Friday’s FP2 in fifth place, Aegerter secretly speculated with a better starting position than row four on the starting grid, from which he made a good start to the race in the early evening. In the first few laps, the Yamaha rider lost some ground due to the usual scrambles, but quickly found a good pace, thanks to which he was able to pass several riders in the finish and saw the chequered flag in ninth place.

Mit Ausnahme des Pay-TV-Senders Discovery werden die Live-Übertragungen am Sonntag auch nur als Stream auf den Online-Plattformen von ServusTV und der offiziellen WorldSBK-Website zu sehen sein.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha YZF R1)
Grid position 10 / Race 1: P9

«After the good second practice yesterday, we were expecting a bit more for Superpole today. Unfortunately, I caught a yellow flag on my fastest lap so, my time was cancelled. I did not have a too bad start from tenth on the grid. But there are a lot of riders who push incredibly hard in the first few corners. Even after that, I was battling with more riders to defend my position. Nevertheless, I dropped back a few positions to 12th or 13th place. But I was able to maintain my pace until the end. Physically, I felt fit right to the end, even though the race was very exhausting due to the super-hot conditions.»

«That also applied to the tyres because I think they are at its limit in these temperatures. In the end, I finished ninth, just over 13 seconds behind the winning time. That is not so much but my goal is to finish a bit further up the field. Hopefully we can make a small step for tomorrow, similar to FP2, where our pace was a bit stronger. That should make it possible to keep up with the front group. That would be very good. I am already looking forward to tomorrow. But now it is time to recover, because the heat robs the body of a lot of energy. Finally, a big thank you to the team for their support.»

#PortugueseWorldSBK – WSBK Superpole:
1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW M 1000 RR / 1´39.783
2 Alex LOWES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´39.887 +0.104
3 Danilo PETRUCCI / ITA / Barni Spark Racing Team / Ducati Panigale V4R / 1´39.971 +0.188
…
10 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´40.505 +0.722 

#PortugueseWorldSBK – WSBK Race 1 (20 Laps):
1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW M 1000 RR / 33´44.531
2 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Auruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4R / +0.780
3 Danilo PETRUCCI / ITA / Barni Spark Racing Team / Ducati Panigale V4R / +1.450
…
9 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +13.108

WorldSBK Standing:
1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / BMW / 328
2 Nicolo BULEGA / UTA / Ducati / 248
3 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Ducati / 219
…
11 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Yamaha / 71

#PortugueseWorldSBK - Time Schedule for Sunday August 11th (CEST):
13:00 - 13:10 Warm Up
15:45 Tissot Superpole Race (10 Laps – 45.920 km)
19:00 Race 2 (20 Laps - 91,840 km)