Former MotoAmerica Superbike rider and current GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team member Garrett Gerloff scored a solid seventh-place finish in Race 1 of the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s Prosecco DOC UK Round at Donington Park.
In the morning’s Free Practice 3, Gerloff showed incredible pace, setting the fastest lap of the session with a 1:26.877. Unfortunately, the American was unable to match his FP3 time in the Tissot Superpole and went eighth-quickest with a lap of 1:27.100.
In the afternoon’s Race 1 at Donington Park, Gerloff got a good start and made his way into the contention for a top-five finish, battling with Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Honda’s Iker Lecuona, the latter of whom he managed to overtake on the final lap for seventh.
“The day started pretty well,” Gerloff said. “We made changes that worked immediately. So, we finished FP3 in first place, but unfortunately we weren’t able to continue that pace in Superpole. It wasn’t a disaster, but not as good as I expected. The start of Race 1 was awesome, but I got stuck after a couple of corners and lost a bit of time. From then on, I tried to stay with the guys in front, but I couldn’t make as many passes as I wanted. The temperatures today were really high, but we learned some things and we’re ready for tomorrow.”
Gerloff will be back on track at Donington Park tomorrow for the Superpole Race at 11 a.m and Race 2 at 2 p.m. Both times local.
