Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) took his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR to a ninth-place finish in the first WorldSBK race of the Motorland Aragon race weekend, after qualifying on the fourth row of the grid.
The intense and punishing heat of Friday was turned down a little for Saturday, 30 May, but it was still hot work all round for Garrett Gerloff and his entire Kawasaki WorldSBK Team.
In the morning’s Superpole Qualifying session, Gerloff qualified 12th fastest, but would start Race One from 11th place on the grid after the rider who qualified third fastest was made to start on the back of the grid for a yellow flag procedure infringement.
In the opening race, Garrett got away well enough to finish lap one of 18 in 11th position. He was tenth on lap two and then ninth on lap three.
He would remain in that ninth position until the chequered flag was shown, although he was right on the heels of the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team rider Axel Bassani across the finish line. Only 0.314 seconds separated Bassani and Gerloff at the end.
The final day at Motorland will see the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team take part in a ten-lap Superpole Race and then a final 18-lap Race Two. The start time of that full distance race is later than Saturday’s was, at 15.30, not 14.00.
Manuel Puccetti
“Gerloff’s race was conditioned by a less-than-ideal start. Our rider then ran with P4 or P5 pace but was forced to fight with other riders in his group and deal with very hot conditions, with a track temperature of almost 60°C. He finished inside the top ten, in ninth place, which is a very strong result anyway. And he has the chance to do more in tomorrow’s races.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I felt like it was a good day for us and that I was riding really well. I did my best ever lap here today in Superpole Qualifying. So there were positives, but it felt like all the positives are overshadowed by other guys going even faster. We had a good start and got a ninth place in the end. We maybe want to be a little bit higher for sure, but I think we can be happy with a top ten at a difficult track like this. We will make some changes and try again tomorrow.”
