Garrett Gerloff took his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR to eighth place in Superpole qualifying at Phillip Island in Australia, and then recorded an 11th place finish in the first race of the year, on Saturday 21 February.
Kawasaki WorldSBK Team rider Gerloff started the first 22-lap race of the 2026 season from the third row of the grid, and raced for a top ten finish all the way to the chequered flag. Almost constantly fighting for track position, he started the final lap in tenth place, in close competition with Danilo Petrucci.
Ultimately, Garrett only just missed out on an early top ten race result, in his second year with Kawasaki in WorldSBK, by just 0.017 seconds.
With the first day of race action now complete at the classic 4.445km long circuit in Australia, Sunday 22 February will host two WorldSBK races. First, there will be the traditional ten-lap Tissot Superpole race, then the weekend will be wrapped up on track by the second 22-lap race, starting at 16.00 local time in Australia.
Manuel Puccetti
“Gerloff ran a great race, consistently fighting for the top ten and only just missing out on it at the end. Considering this was our first race with the new Ninja ZX-10RR, we can be satisfied, but our potential is greater and so we hope to run two better races tomorrow.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I feel good on the bike, I feel good with the team. I struggled at the end of the race with tyre life, so the team will hopefully improve that aspect tomorrow. I hope that we can find that improvement and be closer to the front.”
