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Gerloff Battles Hard at Estoril, Eyes Strong Finish to 2025 Season
Garrett Gerloff and the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team took on the penultimate round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship at Circuito Estoril in Portugal, where the American rider showed determination and consistency aboard his Ninja ZX-10RR across all three days of racing action.
In his first experience of the Estoril circuit on his Kawasaki machine, Gerloff quickly adapted to the fast and technical 4.182 km layout. During a dry and sunny FP1 session, he placed 12th overall — just 1.239 seconds from the fastest lap. By the end of FP2, Garrett improved his pace to within 0.965 seconds of leader Nicolo Bulega, finishing the day 13th on the combined timesheets and less than four-tenths from the top three.
“I feel like I am riding really well and it is just very close in WorldSBK now,” said Gerloff. “If we can make some small improvements I think it can be a big step for tomorrow. The team is working on the bike, trying to find something, so I will come back on Saturday and give it my all.”
Saturday’s Superpole session saw Garrett qualify 13th with a lap of 1’35.827 — just 0.664 seconds from the third-fastest rider. The opening WorldSBK race was red-flagged after an early crash and restarted over 20 laps. Gerloff made steady progress through the pack, ultimately finishing 10th to collect six championship points.
“I have been trying my best at Estoril and in Race One I was riding as hard as I could,” Garrett said. “A top ten was good for the team, but for sure we want more. We have more, so we will try again tomorrow.”
On Sunday, Gerloff finished 12th in the ten-lap Tissot-Superpole Race and narrowly missed the top ten again in Race Two, finishing 11th — just 0.128 seconds shy of tenth place. He added five more championship points to his tally, keeping him 15th overall in the standings and just four points away from the rider ahead.
“All in all, I am not super-happy with the weekend, but we had no crashes, which is good, and we were really close to being inside the top ten in the long races,” Garrett reflected. “It seemed like things were getting better in the middle of the season, but now it just seems like it’s a bit of a struggle. We have one more race weekend left for the year, and we will try our best to end the season on a high note.”
The Kawasaki WorldSBK Team now looks ahead to the final round of the 2025 season at Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, where Gerloff will aim to finish the year strong and carry momentum into 2026.