Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) took part in a dry day one and a wet day two of test action at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto between 22-23 January. He ended up fourth fastest against almost all of his 2025 teams and rivals, thanks to his best dry session lap time of 1’39.332.
This was Garrett’s third test on the Ninja ZX-10RR since he signed to be the official Kawasaki entrant in WorldSBK this year.
There were damp patches around the track surface at the start of the first day, but as they dried out the lap times improved for all, despite increasingly high winds. Garrett tried some new front forks at this test, as well as many other items and set-up options. He posted 62 laps on day one.
Rain and a wet track surface on day two brought about a premature end to the team’s testing plans after 11-laps, as Garrett had suffered a highside crash. He sustained a big impact on his right hip – although with no real injury – so the team decided to halt the on-track action as the weather conditions were not set to improve.
Gerloff will next ride the official Ninja ZX-10RR at the intense Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, between 28-29 January.
The opening round of the new championship season takes place at the truly iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia, between 21-23 February. Prior to that, there will be a two day oficial pre-season test for the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team – and all their rivals – between 17-18 February.
Manuel Puccetti
“It was an extremely positive test. On the first day Gerloff set the fourth fastest time overall and always maintained a very high pace. Today, unfortunately, the rain changed our plans and the team and rider worked on the wet set-up, collecting useful data anyway. We started our test program in a positive way to approach the first round at Phillip Island.
We will continue testing in a few days at Portimao.”
Garrett Gerloff
“Day One was really positive, even though we didn’t have most amazing riding conditions because of how much wind there was. We did complete some good testing and we were able to set some strong lap times. I think it is positive to leave Jerez with that. The weather on day two wasn’t great, but we did a few laps in the rain. I didn’t have a lot of time to ride
as I had a pretty big highside crash in the last corner, taking a big impact on my right hip. So, we decided it was better to wait until Portimao and do more testing there. I’m looking forward to it.”
