Gerloff managed to put yesterday’s disappointment behind him and was immediately fast during the morning’s Warm Up, in which he was fourth. The American then backed that up with a solid recovery in the shortened Tissot Superpole Race, which allowed him to take the chequered flag in eighth, having started 10th.
The 25-year-old took advantage of his improve grid spot to make his way to sixth place during the second start, after the incident between Lucas Mahias and Tom Sykes had immediately triggered a red flag. The Texan battled to a seventh-place result, just behind Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea, and first of the independent riders.
Nozane’s Sunday started off with the 18th fastest time in the Warm Up, but the Japanese rider felt confident ahead of the Superpole Race. He immediately showed it with a great start, but his convincing run inside the top-six ended prematurely when he was involved in an unavoidable incident in Turn 10.
In Race 2, though, Nozane was able to finally capitalise on his vast potential and ran a smooth and competitive race. Thanks to yet another great start, he immediately recovered from 14th to eighth, then tried to follow his teammate towards the front. His pace was not quite fast enough to keep up with the leaders though, due to his lack of dry long runs at the Barcelona track, and the #3 eventually settled for a 10th place finish.
Thanks to a solid Sunday, Gerloff has reduced the gap to the riders in front of him in the World Championship standings, and now sits in ninth place with 158 points. Nozane, instead, moves to 15th place with 43 points, as they prepare to go again at Jerez next weekend.
