Garrett Gerloff took his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR to a tenth-place finish after a battling first race at the penultimate WorldSBK round, in Portugal.
In Superpole Qualifying, Gerloff was 11th, taking a fourth-row starting position for the opening 21-lap WorldSBK race on Saturday afternoon, which started at 15:30 local time.
The Circuito Estoril enjoyed warm and dry weather once again, with some degree of wind adding to the challenges around the ‘old school’ 4.182km circuit, located near the capital city of Lisbon.
Once the race started, Gerloff was in 12th place after one lap, then 11th on lap eight. Two laps before the end, Garrett passed Sam Lowes to take a top ten ranking.
Holding his place until the last of 21 laps, Gerloff secured six more championship points. In the overnight points table, the American rider is ninth.
There will now be two further Estoril WorldSBK races for Garrett and his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team to take part in, on Sunday, October 11.
The Superpole Race will be held over ten laps, as usual, and the 21-lap Race Two completes the action at the penultimate round, with a start time of 15.30.
Manuel Puccetti
“I think we achieved the best result we could today. Gerloff again achieved a top ten finish, and he was the first Japanese bike to cross the line. We need to try and do more of course, and we are working to do just that; perhaps we will see our efforts pay off already in tomorrow’s two races.”
Garrett Gerloff stated
“I feel like tenth place has been my position most of the weekend because every session that seems to be where I am at. We are really trying to work with the bike to try and find some more time, but it is just really close here. Every time we find a better time, everybody else does too. If we can get a ninth place tomorrow in the short race, and get on the third row of the grid, I think that can really help us in Race Two. In Race One, I think I had good pace and everything, but starting just a bit near the back, it was just difficult to move too far forward. I had a good battle with Xavi Vierge and Sam Lowes, so all-in-all, I rode the best I could, and a top ten is what we have to take for now. Let’s try and do more tomorrow.”
