Former MotoAmerica Champion Garrett Gerloff gave his Bonovo Action BMW Racing Team an early parting gift on Sunday at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France. Gerloff finished third and on the final step of the podium in race two at the eighth round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship.
With the Bonovo Action BMW Racing Team announcing earlier this season that they will be leaving the WorldSBK paddock at the end of this season, followed by Kawasaki Puccetti Racing’s announcement that Gerloff will be racing for them in 2025, the Texan proved he’s still got his eyes on the prize in 2024. He gave his current team their first-ever podium result in WorldSBK competition.
Gerloff hinted at his success to come in France this past Friday when he was second-fastest in FP1 and third-fastest in FP2. On Saturday morning, he was fourth-fastest in Tissot Superpole, but the heavy rain that fell during Saturday afternoon’s Superbike race one resulted in him finishing 12th out of the 12 finishers, with 10 riders unable to complete the race due to the treacherous track conditions.
Undeterred, Gerloff came back strong on Sunday when he finished a respectable sixth in Sunday’s Superpole race, and then, he wrapped up the weekend with a third-place result in Sunday’s Superbike race two.
“I’m very happy with this first podium for me and the team,” Gerloff said. “I actually thought this is something we could do much earlier. I thought we could have a podium already last year, and we have been close a couple of times last year, but not close enough. Now, I’m so happy for the team. We have been struggling a bit this year, but we all have been focused and were trying to figure out the problems, and we have been able to make big progress. To finally get the podium is really amazing.”
