Green it is for Gerloff in 2025. As we projected in a story last week, former MotoAmerica Champion and current FIM Superbike World Championship rider Garrett Gerloff today was confirmed as the new rider for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team in the 2025 WorldSBK Championship.
According to reports, Gerloff will be the only rider for the team, and he beat out fellow WorldSBK rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi, as well as British Superbike rider Ryan Vickers, who were both also being considered for the ride. Gerloff expected that the announcement would have been made last week, and it is unknown what caused the one-week delay, but one of the revelations from today’s announcement, other than Gerloff being the lone rider for Puccetti, is that Kawasaki Puccetti Racing will run the machinery currently being used by the Kawasaki Racing Team, which means that Puccetti will become the “official” Kawasaki World Superbike team in 2025.
“On behalf of myself and my team, as well as my sponsors and my family, I would like to express what an honor and privilege this is,” team owner Manuel Puccetti said. “Since my first days in racing, I personally appreciate the elements that make a rider or team successful. I started racing on a 125cc production machine in an Italian cup race in the late 1990s and, by 2002, I had taken the challenging step to become a team owner. Just one truck, some motorcycles, and a loyal group of sponsors to start with. Yet, from those beginnings, we worked and worked to become what we are now; a team with World, European, and National Championships to our credit and a success record that includes over 120 podiums. In 2025, we will field current season KRT Ninja ZX-10RR machinery, and I can only say this is a dream come true. Rest assured, we will do our best to fulfill the ambitions of Ninja fans across the world in the coming season. We are truly honored.”
Shigemi Tanaka, General Manager of Marketing & Sales at Kawasaki Motors, Ltd., commented, “For Kawasaki, it’s important to maintain a presence in WorldSBK with our Ninja brand. With our support for Kawasaki Puccetti and via the transfer on loan of our factory Ninja ZX-10RR race assets, we can publicly show our appreciation of Kawasaki Puccetti Racing and be confident that the Ninja brand will continue to play a significant role in the WorldSBK paddock.”
