GRT Yamaha Return to Top 10 with Positive Sunday Performance at Aragón

31-08-2020

GRT Yamaha Return to Top 10 with Positive Sunday Performance at Aragón

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team’s Garrett Gerloff and Federico Caricasulo displayed their substantial progress at Aragón, with both scoring strong FIM Superbike World Championship points and gaining good experience ahead of their return to the Spanish venue next weekend.

After a positive Saturday, Sunday began with the Warm Up, in which Caricasulo kept improving and set the 11th fastest time, while Gerloff, hampered by his Race 1 crash, was 17th. In the Tissot Superpole Race the Italian, who started 16th, climbed up to 11th, while his team-mate, still searching for the right set-up crossed the line in 13th.

In Race 2, both riders made yet another step forward, with American Gerloff involved in a titanic battle from seventh to 12th, eventually finishing 10th, while Caricasulo improved to 13th.

Both were satisfied by the progress made this weekend and the two GRT Yamaha rookies gained places in the championship standings, with Gerloff now 12th and Caricasulo 14th.

Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSBK Supported Team rider Loris Baz endured a difficult Sunday, with tyre wear dropping him to ninth in the Superpole Race, before an early incident ended his weekend and a chance of more points in Race 2.

Garrett Gerloff - SPRC: P13 / R2: P10

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team

I am satisfied with how the weekend finished. Saturday’s crash certainly affected me a little, especially this morning. In the Superpole Race, I still didn't feel like the bike was perfectly under my control, I lost ground in the first laps and unfortunately I didn't bring home a great result. I regained confidence, however, and the team also worked very well, completely rebuilding my bike after the accident, and making some good adjustments to it. In Race 2 I got off to a pretty bad start, but I had a great feeling and, in the end, I managed to reach the small group where Toprak, Sykes, Haslam, and Lowes were fighting for seventh place. I am happy to have been able to battle with them, even though in the end I finished 10th; a good result but not the one I want. Being only a few tenths away from seventh gives me great motivation for next weekend. Our goal is to take a small step forward to stay a little bit closer to the leaders, but it was nice to finish this weekend strongly, and we will take this momentum with us for the next one.

Federico Caricasulo – SPRC: P11 / R2: P13

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team

Sunday was a positive day because we constantly diminished our gap from the winner and improved our race pace. We collected a lot of data especially in Race 2, which will be very useful for us to improve next weekend. Overall, I am happy with the work we did, and we will try to do our best to move forward when we return.