Two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion Garrett Gerloff continued his hugely successful “off-season” at the World Superbike test at the Jerez Circuit in Spain, the Texan leading the first of two days before eventually ending up fourth overall.
On Tuesday, November 17 at the Spanish circuit, Gerloff rode his GRT Yamaha Junior Team 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 to the quickest time of the day – a 1:39.571. His best was .384 of a second faster than Jonathan Rea with the six-time World Champion riding his 2020 Kawasaki ZX-10RR. Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu was third fastest with Rea’s Kawasaki teammate Alex Lowes fourth and Honda’s Leon Haslam fifth.
On Wednesday, Rea was aboard the new 2021 Kawasaki ZX-10RR and he ripped off a 1:38.324 to move to the top. Razgatlioglu was second best on a “hybrid” 2021 Yamaha YZF-R1 with a 1:38.855 set before he handed the new bike off to Gerloff. Lowes also got his first taste of the new Kawasaki and he ended the day third, .2 of a second faster than Gerloff.
Gerloff’s best lap was a 1:39.172 on the 2021 Yamaha, which was nearly a full second quicker than what he’d qualified with at the Jerez round of the World Superbike Championship in August. It was also some five seconds faster than the Texan had lapped Jerez in January during what was his first outing at the track and his World Superbike test when he clocked the 13th best time at a 1:44.214.
Jerez Test – Day 2
- Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1:38.324
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1:38.855
- Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) 1:38.887
- Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) 1:39.172
- Leon Haslam (Honda) 1:39.852
- Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) 1:39.878
- Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki) 1:40.195
- Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 1:40.232
- Kohta Nozane (Yamaha) 1:40.670
- Isaac Vinales (Kawasaki) 1:40.893
- Loris Cresson (Kawasaki) 1:43.187
