GRT Yamaha Twice Inside Top 10 At Jerez

27-09-2021

GRT Yamaha Twice Inside Top 10 At Jerez

In the FIM Superbike World Championship’s visit to Jerez, GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team’s Garrett Gerloff twice finished 10th, while his 2021 rookie teammate Kohta Nozane was 13th in the opener, before a fall in the second race ended his chances to challenge for a top 10 result.

Following yesterday’s tragic passing of Dean Berta Viñales after an incident in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship race, the GRT Yamaha team would like to offer their deep condolences to his family, friends, and team.

For Gerloff, his day got off to a strong start, with third in the Warm Up, before scoring back-to-back 10th place finishes in Races 1 and 2. The Texan endured difficult starts in both 20-lap events, and with overtaking proving difficult around the 4.428 km circuit, he could not extract his full potential this weekend.

Kohta Nozane, on the other hand, continued learning the secrets of the Spanish circuit, and his pace kept improving, enabling him to get closer to the top 10 fight. The rookie was 15th in the Warm Up (1'41.136) and was able to finish 13th from 16th on the grid in Race 1, after a hard-fought battle with Eugene Laverty. In Race 2, an impressive first lap saw him immediately make his way up into 12th position, but a fall at Turn 6 saw him forced to DNF.

Thanks to today’s results, Gerloff regains eighth position in the championship standings, with 170 points, whereas Nozane now lies in 14th, with 46. Next Friday the GRT Yamaha team will once again be at the track, for the Portuguese round at Portimão, with the first two Free Practice sessions taking place at 10:30 and 15:00 respectively, local time.

For Race 1 results, click here.
For Race 2 results, click here.

Garrett Gerloff - Race 1: P10 / Race 2: P10

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team

Everybody at the GRT Yamaha team feels horrible about what happened yesterday in the WorldSSP300 race. Our thoughts go out to Dean Berta Viñales’ family and we hope they will find healing through this. The fact that they wanted us to race today speaks volumes about their racing spirit and our day was a tribute to him. Our races were a bit tricky. I didn’t have the best first lap in either of them, I had to fight my way through on both occasions and by the time I had clear air the guys I was aiming to compete with were long gone. It was a disappointing day, but we have another round in just one week, and we will get back on the Yamaha R1 and try to improve.

Kohta Nozane - Race 1: P13 / Race 2: DNF

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team

It was a very difficult Saturday and Sunday for everyone because of yesterday’s events, but we know this sport is dangerous and we continued racing in Dean Berta Viñales’ memory. Race 1 began with a bad start and it was difficult to overtake many riders on the first lap. That said, my pace was not bad, I could stay consistently in the 1’41s, but overtaking Laverty turned out to be more difficult than I expected. At one point I made it through, but then I immediately made a mistake and he passed me back. On the last lap I tried again, but I went wide and couldn’t complete the pass. Still, it felt good to fight with him. In Race 2 things were looking better, my start was good, my pace was better and I was involved in a great battle in the first three laps, but then I made a mistake and I tucked the front at Turn 6. The result was disappointing, but it was still good experience for next year. Overall, it was a positive weekend, but the next round will be at Portimão, a new track for me, so it might not be as easy. We will take it step by step, I am happy about my pace in the last two rounds and I hope to build on it.