Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) secured his best race result since joining Kawasaki in 2025 after finishing fifth in the second 21-lap race at Balaton Park in Hungary.
On Sunday, 3 May, Gerloff found good pace in the Superpole Race, but his top five finish in Race Two topped any single result he has had on the Ninja ZX-10RR in WorldSBK.
The Superpole Race in the morning was scheduled to be run over the traditional ten laps, but was contested over eight, due to a lap one collision involving three riders.
Garrett had a strong ride into a final eighth place in the shortened race, and as a result, started Race Two in eighth place on the grid. He was the second non-Ducati rider inside the top eight places in the ‘sprint’ race.
In Race Two, Garrett went three places better in one regard and one place better in another, as he was the first non-Ducati rider home this time, after a top-class performance to make it up to fifth place. After some surprisingly disappointing results at the previous round in Assen, Gerloff was particularly pleased to put in the kind of top five ride he and his team know they are capable of.
In the championship, Garrett is 14th overall, with 40 points, having posted ever-improving race results of 13th, eighth, and fifth at Balaton.
Autodrom Most in Czechia will be the venue for the fifth round of the championship, to be held between 15-17 May.
Manuel Puccetti
“A major race for Gerloff and a very well-deserved fifth place, his best ever result aboard the Kawasaki and further motivation for us to continue along this path, putting in maximum effort as always.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I felt a lot better today than I did at Assen last time out. That was one of the worst weekends I have had, and it felt difficult to explain – because I felt I was doing pretty well with my riding and I felt the bike was working not too badly – but we seemed to have no speed all weekend. I was just scratching my head. It is so difficult as a rider not to think that ‘you are just slow now’. So it was nice to come here to Balaton, make changes, and every change we made was helping me feel better and better. To finish with a top five in Race Two was one of the best things I could do for the team and myself. It has given us a lot of motivation to stay strong for the rest of the season.”
