Here’s a first look at Kawasaki’s one and only official factory World Superbike rider Garrett Gerloff aboard the 2025 Kawasaki ZX-10RR and in the livery that GG31 and his new team will race with in the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship. The new livery was revealed during two days of official testing this week at the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto in Jerez, Spain.
The team, formerly known as Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, now goes by the decidedly more “factory” name Kawasaki WorldSBK Team.
Gerloff was the fastest rider on day one of the two-day test. He did 72 laps on the first day and 78 laps on the second day, setting a best single lap time of 1:38.839 on the second day, on qualifying tires.
The team will now take a winter break from on-track testing. The first race of the 2025 WorldSBK season will take place at Phillip Island in Australia on February 21 through 23.
“The test was good, and I think it was positive,” Gerloff said. “For sure, I think we made one step compared to the last time we were here, so that feels good. We are still looking for more but I am pretty happy with how it went here. I used Q tires because I am trying to work on my qualifying pace. But that is what I am still a little frustrated about. I feel like I get to a wall, and I cannot go any faster. But it has been like that on each bike I have ridden in World Superbike, so it is not this bike. It was really nice to be running in the official colors at this test and to have everything like we can see it now. It is a really big program and a very big effort from these guys. I know it is going to be good so we just need to keep focusing on ourselves.”
One notable thing about the bike, other than that it’s resplendent in the same trademark Kawasaki green paint that carried such Americans as Gary Nixon, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Scott Russell, Doug Chandler, Jamie Hacking, and Tommy and Roger Hayden, among others, to race wins and championships, is that, if you look closely at the left clip-on, there’s an extra hand lever. While the upper lever is most certainly for the clutch, we’re reasonably sure that the lower lever is used to actuate the rear brake. The brake guard protecting that lever is a dead giveaway of the extra lever’s purpose.
Unlike the Attack Performance Yamaha Superbikes that race in MotoAmerica, Gerloff’s World Superbike Kawasaki ZX-10RR also has a right brake pedal, which gives the Texan a choice as to whether to apply the brake with his right foot or his left hand, depending on which is easier to maneuver at which particular moment.
For instance, as shown in the main photo above, when you’re leaned waaaaay over in a right turn and you can’t easily get your foot on the brake pedal, but you need to trail-brake while rolling out of the turn. Note that Gerloff’s left index finger is poised on that rear brake lever.
