Gerloff Second Fastest On Day One At Assen World Superbike

A few weeks removed from his MotoGP debut at Assen and a day after signing a one-year contract extension with Yamaha, Garrett Gerloff ended the first day of World Superbike practice in Holland with the second fastest time in FP2 on his GRT Yamaha YZF-R1.

Gerloff’s best was a 1:34.512 and that put him second and just .121 of a second off the best lap of the day, set by Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea. The six-time World Champion’s best was a 1:34.391.

Honda’s Alvaro Bautista, who was 15th in FP1, shot up the timesheets in FP2 to finish the session win the third best time on his CBR1000 RR-R. Bautista was .350 of a second off Rea’s best.

BMW Motorrad’s Tom Sykes and Pata Yamaha’s Topak Razgatlioglu rounded out the top five on opening day.

Aruba.it Racing’s Scott Redding was quickest in FP1 but he failed to improve in FP2. Gerloff, meanwhile, was seventh in FP1 with a 1:35.150, which was .638 of a second slower than his best in the afternoon session.