Motegi: Dominique Aegerter on third row

Finally! At 12:50 local time, this Saturday 26 October, engines were revved up on the circuit of Motegi, Japan. While all morning session were cancelled again for heavy rain and bad visibility, one qualifying session was held in the afternoon for each category. In this lottery, Dominique Aegerter, the only rider for the Technomag-carXpert Team here in Japan, was 8th fastest and will start from the third row of the starting grid on Sunday for this penultimate round of the 2013 season.

Sunday morning, that is expected to be completely dry, riders will have one free session, longer than a regular warm-up (20 minutes).

Dominique Aegerter (8th): "This has been a very strange weekend. Everything was cancelled on Friday and at night we were woken up by an earthquake. This was the first time that I have experienced it on such a scale and it was not a nice feeling. The result of this is the same - strange: we only had one session and it was directly qualifying so I had to try to find a good set-up for the bike, my pace and think about lap times at the same time. As the track was drying, it was becoming faster and faster; 20 minutes from the end of the session, I was even debating whether we should try a slick tyre (for dry conditions) in the final laps, but it would have been a bad idea. So I went back out and my only strategy was to push hard on every lap, knowing that the fastest laps will be coming with the chequered flag. I finished eighth, row three, so I saved my day. Tomorrow may see some surprises because according to the weather forecast the track should be completely dry. That is to say, it will be important to choose a good rear tyre - we always have 2 types - we will see after the extended warm-up that we were given."