GRT Yamaha Score Pair of Top 10 Finishes on Sunday at Magny-Cours

04-10-2020

GRT Yamaha Score Pair of Top 10 Finishes on Sunday at Magny-Cours

The GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team riders enjoyed some solid results during the wet races at Magny-Cours on Sunday, with the team now switching its focus to the FIM Superbike World Championship finale in Estoril.

Garrett Gerloff, eager to redeem himself after yesterday's fall, proved once again to be competitive in the morning's Warm Up, in which he clocked in the sixth fastest time. Federico Caricasulo, on the other hand, continued his adaptation to the difficult track conditions and was 15th.

The Superpole Race then saw the American finish a respectable eighth, while his Italian teammate recorded a DNF after a fall on the sixth lap. In Race 2, Gerloff, who lacked some confidence compared to Friday and Saturday, took the chequered flag in eighth again, whereas Caricasulo upped his pace to finish 11th, managing to reduce his gap from the leader compared to the previous two races

.Thanks to the points collected today, both Gerloff and Caricasulo move up in the WorldSBK standings - the American is now 11th with 78 points, while his teammate climbs up to 13th, with51. The 2020 season will draw to a close with the next round in Estoril, Portugal, on 16-18 October.

It was another impressive day for the Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSBK Supported Team and their rider Loris Baz.After his best finish on the Yamaha R1 in Saturday’s opener, where he took second, the French rider repeated that in Race 2, taking the fastest lap in the process. Baz had also scored strongly in the Superpole Race, finishing sixth to confirm his highest-scoring weekend since joining the team.

For full Superpole Race results, click here.
For full Race 2 results, click here.

Garrett Gerloff - SPRC: P8 / R2: P8

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team

What a crazy weekend. We had a strong first couple of days and I was really excited to bring the good feeling from Catalunya over to here. It did feel that way on Friday, and even on Saturday, when I had a really strong start of the race until I had that crash. Today I was hoping to do something similar and to be close to the top guys, but the conditions were a little bit difficult to understand. We used a different setup which really did not perform as well as we expected in the Superpole Race, and then we went back to the setup we used yesterday, but - for whatever reason - I just did not feel 100 percent. In Race 2, I also didn’t have the best first lap and lost some positions, then I just worked all race long to get back up front. I battled with some riders and lost a lot of time, which is hard to make up afterwards. In general, it was for sure a positive weekend, but I am still a little bit disappointed at the way it ended after such a strong start. I wish I could have brought that momentum through the whole weekend and unfortunately it didn’t completely happen, but I definitely learned a lot and I am really excited for this last round in Estoril coming up. It looks like a really fun track, and it should be good for the Yamaha R1, so I’m really looking forward to it.

Federico Caricasulo – SPRC: DNF / R2: P11

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team

It was not an easy weekend, because the rain and cold conditions always made it difficult, but I think that between Friday and Sunday we were able to make great progress, both in terms of my riding technique in the wet and in regards to the setup of the bike. Therefore, we were able to vastly reduce the gap on the single lap, but also the overall distance from the leaders in the race. There's still a lot to improve, and we now know what areas to work on if the rain comes again, but I'm happy with the steps forward we've made. At Estoril, which is a track I've never seen except on a 2004 PlayStation game, I have no idea what to expect, so now I'll watch some onboard videos, study them and get some advice from Niccolò Canepa, who has just raced there.