GRT Yamaha Score Top Six Finish with Gerloff in Race 1 at Portimão

02-10-2021

GRT Yamaha Score Top Six Finish with Gerloff in Race 1 at Portimão

The GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team scored a top six finish in today’s FIM Superbike World Championship race at Portimão, courtesy of Garrett Gerloff, with 2021 rookie Kohta Nozane claiming points as he continues to get to grips with the tricky Portuguese circuit.

After going fourth fastest in Free Practice 3, Gerloff was unable to build on that promising start in qualifying, where he managed the eighth fastest time. He was involved in the podium battle in Race 1, but a few mistakes cost the American and he eventually finished in sixth.

As for Nozane, the Japanese rider and his crew focused on closing the gap to the leaders and on continuing down the difficult path of adapting to a new track. The 25-year-old was 17th in FP3 before making a solid step forward in the Superpole session, in which he qualified in 16th. In Race 1, he battled for what eventually became 10th, but was unable to make progress and finished 14th.

For Race 1 results, click here.

Garrett Gerloff: P6

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team

I am not happy with myself today, because it seemed like I could never do anything right in the race. The first couple of laps were good, but then I started making mistakes and that’s very frustrating. It could have been a better race because the bike felt really good, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I was able to set my fastest lap, and third fastest lap of the race, on lap 15, which shows how good the R1 was, but I kept making mistakes. Tomorrow we have two more chances and we will do the best we can. It may rain, which would make things interesting, but if it’s dry I will just try to recover as many positions as possible in the Superpole Race to get a good starting position in the afternoon. I want to have a clean race and to aim as high as possible.

Kohta Nozane: P14

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team

In qualifying I managed to set a pretty decent time, but my pace was still not good today and it was a very difficult race. The wind was also very strong, which made it even more difficult, but the conditions were the same for everyone. Tomorrow, we will try to improve starting from the Tissot Superpole Race, but especially in Race 2.