GRT Yamaha Show Race-Winning Pace in Magny-Cours Opener

03-10-2020

GRT Yamaha Show Race-Winning Pace in Magny-Cours Opener

Rain once again affected the second day of the penultimate FIM Superbike World Championship round at Magny-Cours, with GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team’s Garrett Gerloff falling while in winning contention.

The GRT Yamaha rookie riders started Saturday off well, with Gerloff setting the third fastest time and Federico Caricasulo going eighth during FP3. In the Superpole, the American was a WorldSBK career-best fifth, while his teammate qualified in 12th place.

Unfortunately, while running third, Gerloff fell heavily on the seventh lap, after a good start had allowed him to follow Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea and Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSBK Supported Team’s Loris Baz. Caricasulo made no mistakes and crossed the line in 11th place, as he continues to search for a better feeling in wet conditions.

After qualifying eighth in the Superpole, Baz enjoyed an excellent start and swiftly moved into the podium positions within the opening stages of the race. The French rider battled with Rea for victory, eventually finishing second to record his best result on the Ten Kate Yamaha R1.

Tomorrow, after the Warm Up at 09:00 (GMT+2), there will be two more opportunities to collect points, with the Superpole Race at 11:00, and Race 2 at 14:00.

For full Race 1 results, click here.

Federico Caricasulo: P11

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team

It has been, until now, a rather complicated weekend, and we are working hard to solve all our problems in the wet to try to move closer to the front. I believe we were able to make a good step forward in the race in terms of pace, and we made some improvements in my riding as well as in the setup of the bike. Completing a full race was also important to gather more data and we will certainly start Sunday with more adjustments, in order to fight for a top-10 finish in the wet as well.

Garrett Gerloff: DNF

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team

I’m super disappointed with how today ended. I felt really confident after yesterday, finishing fastest overall, and I was quite pleased to qualify fifth. I had a good start in the race and moved up to second place. I had a couple of people make some passes on me, but I could retake them and I was feeling good. The Yamaha R1 was really working well and I had a lot of confidence, I am just disappointed that we weren’t able to finish the race. Had we managed to reach the chequered flag, it could have been another good result. Big thanks to the whole GRT Yamaha team and we’ll come back tomorrow and restart from scratch. That’s the plan.