Aegerter: “Braking from 300km/h is something I need to get used to”

Despite finishing his third WorldSBK test earlier this week, two-time WorldSSP champion Dominique Aegerter remains surprised by the braking prowess of his Yamaha R1 which is ‘something I need to get used to’, says the Swiss rider.

Robert Jones

03 Feb 2023

Dominique Aegerter, GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Portimao 2023

Aegerter, who was the top rookie during last week’s two-day Jerez WorldSBK test, struggled to get on par with team-mate Remy Gardner at Portimao, with the Australian finishing six tenths clear of Aegerter.

What was his first WorldSBK test at a circuit other than Jerez, Aegerter found the challenge of riding Superbike machinery around Portimao to be a ‘demanding one’.

Aegerter said: "A fantastic track here at Portimao but a really demanding one… with the big bike, and a lot of power, to brake from over 300km/h is something I need to get used to!

"We tried many things. On the bike, electronics, tyre wise but I think we could not take the full potential out of the SCQ tyre.

"We got some good information to work on, some basic setups that we can have for the season. We tried some different riding positions and the things that Yamaha gave us to try."

The back-to-back Supersport world champion was one of the busiest riders during the final day as he completed 83 laps across two bikes.

But despite the significant amount of track time, Aegerter was still not comfortable with the combination of arriving and stopping his Superbike at banked corners, of which there are many at Portimao.

"When I tried it for the first time, you have different lines, different brake markers," said Aegerter. "This track is really difficult to discover because it’s also up and down with blind corners, and it’s wide.

"There are different lines you can use. Still struggling a little bit to find the best lines, the fastest lines, but the team tried to help me a lot.

"Here, we didn’t get as close as we did at Jerez. I think Jerez was a good two days. I think it’s everywhere a little bit.

"Here, at Portimao, it was the braking entry because you have many corners where you arrive with banking and you stop with banking. This is a point I didn’t like too much. Also, the fast corners where you’re just rolling off the throttle to get a better turning."