Remy Gardner and Dominique Aegerter returned to action on 8th September at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, showing early potential to finish 9th and 16th on combined times.

The duo faced a challenging Free Practice 1 session, trying the French circuit for the first time on their Yamaha R1 machines. It was a learning curve for both Aegerter and Gardner, who spent their time gleaning information, they crossed the line in 14th (1’38.128) and 18th (1’38.316) respectively.

In Free Practice 2, with track temperatures 10-15°C hotter than in the morning, both GYTR GRT Yamaha riders managed to improve. Gardner showed strong progress throughout the whole session, eventually finishing 9th on a 1’37.562 in the latter stages. On the other side of the garage, Aegerter had a promising start, improving his lap time immediately, but unfortunately this hot lap was cancelled following yellow flags. Afterwards, the Swiss rider suffered a technical issue with the engine which forced him to end the session prematurely and he was unable to finish higher than 16th (1’38.472)

Remy Gardner – P9: 1’37.562
“It was a very hot day, and we know we need to keep working and getting quicker. We’re lacking some pace, but we managed to improve a lot in Free Practice 2 and I got to learn the track more as well. We’re aware will continue to be a very hot weekend and we’ll probably face some scorching races, but we’ll keep working hard to have one-lap and race-long pace. I’m confident we can make a further step tomorrow.”

Dominique Aegerter – P16: 1’38.114
“I’m delighted to be back on track, it was a long break. I needed some laps to get used to the bike again, and it was my first time on the R1 in Magny-Cours too. Unfortunately, in the afternoon we suffered a technical issue with the engine that cost me time and prevented me from improving my feeling and lap times, but I’m confident we’ll be back stronger tomorrow. We’ll work hard to have enough track time, being conscious it’ll be a very hot race. I’m also happy to see many fans here, I can feel their support.”