Starting from sixth on the grid in the first race of the weekend for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, former MotoAmerica Superbike race winner and current GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider Garrett Gerloff finished third, which was the best result of his 2022 campaign and his first podium this season.
After a bit of a slow start in Friday’s qualifying sessions, Gerloff came on like gangbusters in Saturday’s Superpole session, and he qualified on the second row for a third consecutive weekend. Starting sixth in Race 1, the Texan initially lost two places, but then, he began a strong comeback through the field.
With four laps to go, Gerloff managed to pull off a breathtaking double overtake for fourth on Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) and Iker Lecuona (Honda), diving down the inside of both on the run into Turn 1. The 27-year-old then took third place off Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (Pata Yamaha) at the same place a lap later, just running out of laps to challenge Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) for second.
Gerloff’s third-place result was his sixth career podium in the Superbike World Championship and his first podium since Donington Park Race 2 in 2021. It was also Yamaha’s 325th race with one of their riders landing on the WorldSBK podium.
“It feels amazing to be back on the podium,” Gerloff commented. “I’m really happy for myself and for the team. I wanted to give them a good result. They deserve it. The start was nothing special, but I tried to be gentle on the tires, and it paid off in the latter stages of the race. The rear tire was still toasted at the end, but I was able to make some good overtakes. Now, we’re focused on tomorrow, where we’ll just continue what we’ve been doing so far this weekend.”
Gerloff and his GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team will be back on track tomorrow at Catalunya for the Superpole Race at 11 a.m. and Race 2 at 2 p.m. Both times local.
