In the opening race of the 2022 FIM Superbike World Championship at MotorLand Aragón, GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider and former MotoAmerica Superbike competitor Garrett Gerloff finished ninth and was the Top Independent Rider.
Following the first free practice sessions of the year on Friday, Gerloff qualified 11th-fastest in Superpole with a lap of 1:49.541. In Saturday’s race, Gerloff dropped a couple of places on the start, and had to fight his way back through. In the closing stages, he managed to climb back inside the top 10 with strong late pace, eventually finishing ninth.
“I’m disappointed with the qualifying because we’ve been top five all winter, so I was expecting to be in the first two rows,” Gerloff said. “Because of that, I had a difficult beginning of the race, but the bike was feeling good, and I had strong pace at the end, finishing inside the top 10. I want more than that, but I’m happy to be Top Independent Rider for my GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team, and now we have a clear plan for tomorrow, where we’ll try to push more.”
Gerloff and his team will analyze the data from Race One to improve their performance tomorrow in the Superpole Race and Race Two.
Incidentally, Bonovo Action BMW rider Loris Baz, who raced in last year’s MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, finished 11th in Race One at Aragón.
