Garrett Gerloff ended the first day of practice in Misano with the fifth quickest time. Photo courtesy of GRT Yamaha.

GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff ended the opening day of World Superbike practice with the fifth-fastest time at the Misano Circuit in Italy, the Texan just .589 of a second from the top of the timesheets.

Gerloff’s best lap came in FP1, his 1:34.923 putting him third at the end of the first session. Gerloff, however, didn’t improve in the second session, and he dropped to fifth overall at the end of the day.

The day was led by Michael Ruben Rinaldi, the Italian’s best lap a 1:34.334 coming in FP2. Rinaldi’s quickest lap was .294 of a second faster than Kawasaki Racing Team’s Alex Lowes with Topak Razgatlioglu third on the Pata Yamaha with BRIXX YZF-R1.

Six-time World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea was fourth on the Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR, just .075 of a second ahead of Gerloff.

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