MotoE team boss rejects criticism over Dominique Aegerter WorldSSP title dilemma

The team manager of the Intact GP MotoE says he won’t accept criticism if his rider Dominique Aegerter misses out on the WorldSSP Championship title because he won’t allow him to swap disciplines during a date clash.

The Swiss racer - a race winner in Moto2 - has dovetailed his commitments in the MotoE World Cup, where he has competed since 2020, with a stint in the WorldSSP Championship with Ten Kate Yamaha.

However, his WorldSSP campaign has been going perhaps better than anticipated for a maiden season, with six wins in ten races putting him on course for his first ever World Championship crown.

Nevertheless, he faces an uneasy weekend on 18-19 September when he has to skip a round of the WorldSSP Championship (two races) in favour of honouring his MotoE commitments at Misano.

Raising the question of whether IntactGP would release him to compete in Barcelona on the Yamaha R6 instead of at Misano, team boss Jurgen Lingg’s response was an unequivocal ‘no’.

“In the spring I allowed Domi to drive the Supersport World Championship for ten Kate. I told him: 'Ride’ the Supersport World Cup. ' The only condition was that MotoE should have priority in the event of a date clash. That's why we really can't be accused of anything."

Double trouble or double glory for Aegerter?

Though the date clash comes at an awkward time for Aegerter in his hopes of winning the WorldSSP crown - marking round 8 of 12 - focusing on MotoE could end up being beneficial for the Swiss rider.

A Misano double header marks the final round of the MotoE World Cup and Aegerter is still in contention for the title, albeit as a relative outsider in fourth, 11 points behind leader Alessandro Zaccone. It means he could potentially become a double World Champion in 2021.

For the most part though he will be sweating it out watching the television screens that weekend to see how his rivals fare at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in his absence.

His impressive run of form on the Yamaha R6 has seen him open a healthy 37 point lead over Steven Odendaal, but his comfort levels will be judged more on how he fares in the two rounds leading to Barcelona in Navarra and Magny-Cours.

Aegerter has proven something of a revelation in his first season of WorldSSP racing and should he go ahead and win the title will return the Ten Kate Racing squad to the top of the pile for the first time since 2014 with Michael van der Mark, but its first using Yamaha machinery.