With a damp track underneath and dark skies above, Alcoba opted to run a wet tyre and set-up combination, while Aegerter was one of the few who preferred to go with slick tyres, hoping that the track conditions would not deteriorate.

As it transpired, those who went for a dry set-up had the best of the 18-lap race, as most riders on a wet set-up pitted to change tyres at some stage.

Most riders opted for rain tyres at the start of the race, and many changed to another solution after just a few laps. Alcoba was one of those who changed tyres, and he would end up in ninth place on his Ninja ZX-6R 636, despite being given a time penalty and dropping one finishing position because he left pit lane just a fraction of a second early.

Aegerter was inside the top race rankings on his dry tyre option, and was on course for a top four finish until his bike experienced a technical issue on the penultimate lap. Aegerter was unable to finish the race.

After the first round, Alcoba is overall tenth in the championship, with 13 points, while Aegerter is yet to score.

The next round will take place in Portimao, Portugal, between 27-29 March.

Jeremy Alcoba, stated: “Not the results that we expected after the pre-season, but I think we started well and took some important points. It is a long season. On Sunday the race was strange because of the weather. Our strategy was like for 90% of the riders, and we put in wet tyres. The skies looked like they were getting darker, so we couldn’t tell if it would be more wet or dry. Some riders took the risk to put in slick tyres, and they made a good choice. We took the risk the other way, but we did like almost all the others. I was fifth or sixth in the race, and feeling quite well, but I went into the box for tyres one lap late. The team did a really good job changing the tyres, but I was a fraction of a second early passing the exit line, so I was penalised by one tenth and lost one position in the final results. I am disappointed for this, but happy for the result.”

Dominique Aegerter, stated: “We were quite unlucky this weekend. In Race Two, with the team, we made a great decision to start with slick tyres. Of course, it is always a 50/50 chance, and there were always some small drops of rain. I think five or six riders decided to go out with slick tyres. I was running in fourth place but one lap from the end we had a technical problem. It is frustrating not to get any points out of our first weekend here in Australia, but this is racing and these things can happen. We need to keep thinking and stay strong together. We need to believe in ourselves so we can still have a great season together.”