Bitter for Domi Eggerter: There is no place at the top in the Yamaha World Championship / Superbike

Yamaha has a youthful program unmatched by any other manufacturer. From the R3 National Cups there is a direct route through the Supersport 300 and Supersport World Championships to the Superbikes. In theory, the rider could also be taken from the SBK circuit to the MotoGP World Championship, but that hasn’t happened since Cal Crutchlow 2011.

The Japanese manufacturer with three tuning prongs in its logo is trying to take its best Supersport pilots to the Superbike World Championship. After winning the title in 2018, Sandro Cortez was named to the GRT for the following year. World champion Andrea Locatelli came straight to the 2021 Bata factory team.

Of course, Dominique Aegerter would also like to move up to the First Class in the nearby series, preferably with Yamaha. After six out of 24 races, the 30-year-old from Team Ten Kate leads the championship standings with three wins and 17 points ahead.

The following statements by Andrea Dusoli, Yamaha’s race director, dealt a heavy blow to Aegerter. “Of course there is a future for him with us, but he probably won’t be one of the drivers we’re investing in – we’re investing in younger drivers,” the Italian confirms.

Yamaha currently supports four riders in the Superbike World Championship: 24-year-old Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli on the staff and 25-year-old Garrett Gerloff and Kohta Nozane on the Giansanti Racing Team.

“Our plan is to expand with the four,” Dussoley confirmed to SPEEDWEEK.com. “Now that our bike is competitive, some teams are showing interest in applying to the World Superbike Championship with Yamaha. We would be more than happy to see the winner of the World Supersport Championship on a Yamaha Superbike next year. We are looking at all possibilities to make this a reality.”

Yamaha will offer the following views: The existing customer team Alstare wants to continue and grow from one to two drivers. In addition, the Supersport GMT94 squad will be competing with a super motorcycle, and Bardahl Evan Bros is also considering an upgrade.

Aegerter will also speak with other manufacturers. The Honda staff presents an attractive opportunity, as the contracts of Alvaro Bautista (36) and Leon Haslam (38) expire. Aegerter already had a contract as a test driver there for 2020, but was unable to drive due to official measures around the world against the Covid-19 pandemic. Communications with HRC are in place and are now being updated.

In the prestigious eight-hour race at Suzuka, Aegerter has proven several times that he can do it on a superbike: he has previously podiumed three times, once on a Suzuki and twice for a Honda.