Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) entered the first race of the Donington WorldSBK weekend on the fourth row of the grid, before moving up to finish eighth after 23-competitive laps had been completed.
The 4.023KM long circuit was already warm when the Superpole Qualifying session got underway at 11am on Saturday 12 July, with Garrett ending up 12th quickest on his Ninja ZX-10RR.
An early opportunity arose for Garrett after three riders in front of him collided and fell – without any significant injury – in the first corner on lap one. Garrett gained a higher track position immediately and rode in tenth place for three laps. He moved up to ninth on lap four, then eighth at half race distance.
The American rider inside the Italian-based team ended up in a four way rider group across the finish line, with no more laps available to try and make even more progress in the final results.
Eighth place equalled Gerloff’s previous season best, showing that recent progress with the bike set-up and rider familiarisation is heading in a positive direction.
After the end of the Saturday race action for Garrett and his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team they will now look forward to competing in the ten-lap Superpole Race, and a second 23-lap Race Two on Sunday 13 July.
Garrett Gerloff
“I felt pretty good on the bike. It is unfortunate what happened in the first corner but that put me forward a bit in the race. I was trying my best to stay with the guys in front of me, but in the beginning of the race I have a difficult time trying to do the lap times. Towards the end of the race it comes better for me. In the end I was eighth. I will take it, but I want better on Sunday.”
