Gerloff Is Fourth-Fastest On Opening Day in Aragón

Gerloff is fourth-fastest going into Saturday’s final qualifying and first races of the season. Photo courtesy of WorldSBK.

The FIM Superbike World Championship kicked off on Friday with the first free practice sessions of the season at MotorLand Aragón. GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider and former MotoAmerica Superbike contender Garrett Gerloff finished fourth overall on combined times.

In Free Practice 1, Gerloff ended the session sixth-fastest with a 1:50.269. He improved his lap time in Free Practice 2 with an impressive lap of 1:49.900 to go fourth fastest overall.

On Saturday, Gerloff’s day will start with FP3 at 9 a.m. local time, followed by Superpole at 11 a.m The first race of the 2022 season is set for 2 p.m. local time.

“I’m feeling confident, even though some of the guys look to have really strong race pace,” commented Gerloff. “Anyway, we did a good job, and in the morning I went out with just one set of tires to do a long run, as we needed to see the performance. In FP2, I got a feel of the track in hotter conditions for the first time this year. I feel Yamaha has done a really good job, and we have a great package overall. I just want to have a good qualifying and keep building from there.”

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was the fastest overall rider on day one. The six-time World Champion’s mission to reclaim the title got off to a great start, as he recorded the fastest lap of 1:49.301, which was a little more than half a second faster than Gerloff’s fastest time.

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