Aegerter still getting over power and grip levels in MotoGP

Ten Kate Yamaha’s Dominique Aegerter has spent his year flitting between race classes again in 2022. He won the MotoE title recently, is still leading the WorldSSP standings as reigning champion, and he even tested a MotoGP Suzuki at Misano this week.

He was asked about the MotoGP outing, saying, “Every lap was amazing. I enjoyed a lot. The power is amazing, and for me a dream come true. To get this opportunity to ride for this Suzuki Factory team is a dream. Sure also big thanks to Ten Kate and Yamaha that I could ride.”

The greatest first impression was obviously the difference in power from WorldSSP/MotoE to MotoGP. “The biggest thing for me was just the power, the grip that the tyre has… the ride height device when I start to use it! The brake I understand quite easily fast, because I am quite a hard braker, so I could keep the temperature in (the carbon brakes). It’s powerful…”

The grip was also a big eye opener, but controllable, said ‘Domi’.

“It’s powerful but for example, after the Curvone, or the third corner at Misano the bike has so much grip and so much power, you nearly cannot bring it to the ground. It started shaking - because you have the grip and the power - so sometimes it’s not easy to open the throttle full gas.

“What I didn’t understand so quickly was, you need to go ‘inside’ the traction control to slide the bike that you can turn. I had always too much grip and it wants to push me out. I think for these four exits I did with 33 laps, it’s a good lap time.”

Aegerter did not ride the full tests, but after the early sessions he rode, he was 2.3 seconds off the best.

“I was 2.3 away in that morning session, and then 2.6 in the evening. In the second day, they make a little bit faster. You can count