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Gerloff Leaves Estoril With P7 In Race 2
Garrett Gerloff took his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team Ninja ZX-10RR to seventh place in the final race of the Estoril round, ending a sometimes challenging weekend in a strong fashion.
The Circuit Estoril hosted the penultimate round of WorldSBK from October 9-11, with the two final races taking place with the threat of rain looming in the air at times.
The track conditions were not affected to any real degree by the occasional mist of raindrops, and each Sunday race was classified as officially dry.
In the morning’s Superpole Race, held over 10 laps, Gerloff was in the midfield until running wide at Turn 1. A repeat of this situation soon after saw him drop back to last position after only three laps. This compromised his ability to stay in contention for a points-scoring position, and he finished 18th, leaving him overall 13th on the Race 2 starting grid.
In the final 21-lap race of the weekend, Gerloff got away well and was 10th on Lap 1, feeling that the set-up on his Ninja ZX-10RR was the best it had been all weekend.
A tight midfield battle ensued for Gerloff, who used his improved machine settings to fight hard and ride well. He got into seventh position on Lap 17, and would stay there right to the checkered flag.
Gerloff's best ride of the penultimate 2026 race weekend saw him take nine more points. He is ninth overall in the championship standings, with one round and three individual races to go.
The final round of the entire 2026 series will take place at the Circuit de Jerez - Angel Nieto, from October 16-18.
“I am so disappointed with myself after the Superpole Race. I thought maybe we had a chance to get into the Top 9, but on the first lap I just couldn’t stop, went in too deep, and off the track. Then I did the same thing on the second lap, so I have been kicking myself for that. But I was really happy with the second race. I felt good, the bike felt really positive, so thanks to the team for giving me a good bike to end the weekend on. I am happy to be in the Top 7. That’s all we had this weekend. I was around the Top 10 all weekend and getting a bit frustrated, but luckily we made a bit of an improvement for the last race. Now we are ready to move on to next weekend.”
- Garrett Gerloff
