Former MotoAmerica Champion, Superbike race winner, and FIM Superbike World Championship competitor Garrett Gerloff wrapped up a successful two-day test at Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto aboard his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team Ninja ZX-10RR. The weather conditions were dry on day one and wet on day two at the Spanish road circuit. Against almost all of the teams and riders he’ll compete against in the 2025 WorldSBK Championship, the Texan was fourth-fastest overall with a best time of 1:39.332 in the dry on day one.
For Gerloff, this was his third test aboard the Ninja ZX-10RR since he signed on as the lone rider on Kawasaki’s official factory WorldSBK team at the end of the 2024 season. As immortalized in a well-known song, “the rain in Spain” was a factor on both days of the test with damp patches around the track surface challenging the riders at the start of the test on Tuesday morning. Lap times improved as the track dried out but strong winds continued to test of mettle of Gerloff and his rivals.
Despite the conditions, however, the Double-G and his team were able to try some new front forks, along with a whole host of other parts and set-up options. All told, Gerloff did 62 laps just on the first day alone.
On day two, rain and a wet track surface led to a premature end to the team’s testing plans only 11 laps into the day as Gerloff unfortunately suffered a highside get-off. He emerged from the incident mostly unscathed despite sustaining a big impact to his right hip. He could have continued riding but the weather conditions were not expected to improve for the remainder of the day, so the team decided to cease testing.
“Day one was really positive, even though we didn’t have the most amazing riding conditions because of how much wind there was,” Gerloff said. “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 in the last corner, taking a big impact on my right hip. So, we decided it was better to wait until Portimão and do more testing there. I’m looking forward to it.”
Kawasaki WorldSBK Team owner Manuel Puccetti commented, “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 Portimão.”
Gerloff will again ride the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team Ninja ZX-10RR next week at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portimão Circuit) in Portugal on January 28 and 29.
The traditional, two-day Official WorldSBK Pre-Season Test at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia will take place on February 17 and 18 just prior to the opening round of the FIM Superbike World Championship slated for February 21 through 23, also at Phillip Island.
