Garrett Gerloff took his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team Ninja ZX-10RR to seventh place in the final race of the Estoril round, ending a sometimes challenging weekend in a strong fashion.
The Circuito Estoril hosted the penultimate round of WorldSBK between 9-11 October, with the two final races taking place with a threat of rain looming in the air at times.
The track conditions were not affected to any real degree by the occasional mist of raindrops, and this each Sunday race was classified as officially dry.
In the morning’s Superpole Race, held over ten laps, Garrett was in the midfield until running wide at T1. A repeat of this situation soon after saw him drop back to last position after only three laps. This compromised his ability to stay in contention for a points-scoring position and he finished 18th, leaving him overall 13th on the Race Two starting grid.
In the final 21-lap race of the weekend, Garrett got away well and was tenth on lap one, feeling that the set-up on his Ninja ZX-10RR was the best it had been all weekend.
A tight midfield battle ensued for Garrett, who used his improved machine settings to fight hard and ride well. He got into seventh position on lap 17, and would stay there right to the chequered flag.
Garrett’s best ride of the penultimate 2026 race weekend saw him take nine more points. He is ninth overall in the championship standings, with one round and three individual races to go.
The final round of the entire 2026 series will take place at the Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto, between 16-18 October.
Manuel Puccetti
“A very positive weekend. Gerloff finished top ten yesterday and scored a seventh-place finish today in the second long race. The bike is increasingly competitive, and our rider is now a permanent presence in the top ten, and right now that’s the maximum possible result. We’ll keep working to improve of course, but we’re already very happy and ready for a strong season finale.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I am so disappointed with myself after the Superpole Race. I thought maybe we had a chance to get into the top nine, but on the first lap I just couldn’t stop, went in too deep and off the track. Then I did the same thing on the second lap, so I have been kicking myself for that. But I was really happy with the second race. I felt good, the bike felt really positive, so thanks to the team for giving me a good bike to end the weekend on. I am happy to be in the top seven. That’s all we had this weekend. I was around the top ten all weekend and getting a bit frustrated, but luckily we made a bit of an improvement for the last race. Now we are ready to move on to next weekend.”
