Australian Supersport Championship leader Aaron Gobert had a difficult first day at round two of the series at Symmons Plains in Tasmania today, the Gobert Motorsports Yamaha rider forced to do an engine swap on Friday evening.

Gobert completed just nine laps in this morning’s opening timed practice session of the weekend before experiencing a mechanical problem with his privateer YZF-R6, the team opting to slot his spare bike’s engine into the number one chassis for the weekend’s proceedings.

“It’s been a long day, but we have a plan for tomorrow and I’m confident that it shouldn’t hold us back too much for qualifying or the races,” the former AMA champion commented.

“I was able to ride my spare bike in session two this afternoon but it’s the bike that Scott Charlton raced in 2009, so I decided to put that engine into the bike that’s more familiar to me just to be safe.”

Despite his difficulties that hampered him on Friday, Gobert was able to finish the day with the sixth quickest lap of the 18-rider Supersport field.

Last weekend’s Phillip Island round marked Gobert’s maiden national Supersport victory since returning from a decade-long career in the AMA last year, giving him a two-point lead in the series ahead of Yamaha Racing Team factory rider Kevin Curtain at this point.