Garrett Gerloff’s first race on his Ninja ZX-10RR was prematurely ended when a technical issue intervened during the first 20-lap race of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship season at Phillip Island in Australia.
Much hotter conditions appeared on Saturday than during free practice on the previous day – or the official two day test which was also held at Phillip Island, on Monday and Tuesday.
Gerloff had qualified 17th in Superpole on Saturday 22 February and he was hoping to make up ground and track position early in the 20-lap race.
Gerloff found a technical issue early on the race and he ran wide onto the asphalt area of Turn Four. He restarted, but would eventually pull off the track at Turn Two to retire.
Now Garrett and his team will work on a machine set-up for what is expected to be a much cooler Sunday in readiness for the ten lap Superpole Race and a second 20-lap Race Two. The Sunday race will also feature a mandatory tyre change for all competitors at half race distance, as the opening race did on Saturday.
Garrett Gerloff
“Not the best way to start the championship, unfortunately, and I am sure we were all expecting more. I had a technical issue in the race so the bike stopped and I was not able to finish the race. We will try again tomorrow.”
