Gerloff gets his weekend underway at Assen

Garrett Gerloff ended his first day of action at the third round of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship in an overall 17th place, after completing the two scheduled free practice sessions.

The evocative TT Circuit Assen featured fine weather conditions for the first day of track action, as the championship moved from Portugal in March to the Netherlands in April. After FP1, held on Friday morning, Gerloff had been 14th, before taking to the track again for FP2 in the afternoon.

Official Ninja ZX-10RR rider Gerloff had hoped to finish his first day in Assen on a higher note than his final position on the timesheets provided, but he and his technical crew will have another free practice session on Saturday morning in which to find some set-up improvements. After FP3, Saturday will feature the Tissot Superpole qualifying session and then Race One, which will be run over 21 laps.

Sunday will feature a ten-lap Tissot-Superpole race and the action at Assen will end with a 21-lap Race Two.

Garrett Gerloff: “Assen has been a bit more complicated than I wanted it to be. Last year, we struggled a lot and this year I thought maybe we would have more coming into the weekend from the past couple of rounds, which were good. At the minute I am still struggling to get the most out of myself and the bike. The team has a lot of work to do to understand what we need to change for tomorrow. I wish I could give them a bit more direction, but I am honestly a bit confused. We will sleep on it, come back tomorrow stronger and try to have a good race weekend.”

Mixed results for Alcoba and Aegerter on day one at Assen

The third WorldSSP round kicked off today at the Assen TT Circuit. Jeremy Alcoba and Dominique Aegerter took part in a free practice this morning, using it to work on the setup of their Ninja ZX-6R 636 bikes and prepare for the subsequent Superpole.

The Spaniard closed in fifth place with a time of 1’37”430, while the Swiss rider placed nineteenth with a 1’38”363.

The two riders were back out in the afternoon for Superpole, which established the grid positions for Saturday’s race. Alcoba was unable to improve as much as he’d hoped and, with a reference of 1’37”363, qualified fourteenth. On the other side of the garage, Aegerter significantly lowered his lap time (1’37”045) to move up to eleventh place.

With these results, Dominque will line up on row four of the grid and Jeremy on row five for the first of the weekend’s races, which will run over a distance of 18 laps.

Jeremy Alcoba: “I’m not at all happy with my Superpole. This morning, during practice, I had great feeling with my bike and had hoped to do well in qualifying too. Unfortunately, in that session I lapped alone and was penalised by the wind that really slowed me down. I should have got myself into a group to exploit the slipstreams, but I wasn’t able to do that. Fourteenth isn’t what I expected, and I’ll be starting the race on the backfoot, but I’m confident I can still achieve a good result.”

Dominique Aegerter: “We worked hard to improve today. We took a good step forward in qualifying and tomorrow I’ll start P11 on the grid. I hope the weather stays dry for the race. I want to further improve my feeling with the bike and hope to fight at least for the top ten.”

Gerloff just misses scoring points in Race One

Garrett Gerloff took part in Superpole Qualifying and then Race One at the TT Circuit Assen on Saturday 18 April, securing 16th place each time.

Gerloff and his crew found some set-up advances on the Ninja ZX-10RR during FP3 on Saturday morning, finishing up 11th fastest before heading into the Superpole Qualifying session with the aim of taking the best possible grid position.

Garrett would end up 16th in Superpole Qualifying, and thus starting Race One from the sixth row of the grid.

The opening Assen race eventually featured a short period under a passing rain shower, with all the riders continuing to race through the white flag notifications of reduced adhesion on the track surface.

Garrett moved up to 15th in the middle section of the race, and then back to 16th position, where he finished after all 21 laps had been completed. He was just over 1.3 seconds from a points-scoring result.

Sunday 19 April features the now traditional ten-lap Tissot-Superpole and another 21-lap full-distance race before the weekend’s race action concludes at Assen for another year.

Manuel Puccetti: “A difficult race for Gerloff, who missed the points zone. These aren’t the results we expect, so we need to analyse the data collected and work to be more competitive already in tomorrow’s races.”

Garrett Gerloff: “I am kind of confused a bit still because I don’t feel I have a big problem with my riding right now, or with the bike also. But I seem to be just a little bit off in every sector and that just adds up. We are really kind of struggling to figure out what we need to do to improve because it looks like I need to improve a little bit everywhere. We are working on it and we will try some things tomorrow. So far, this weekend has not been the best one for us, but we will keep on trying.”

Top six for Aegerter at Assen

Dominique Aegerter had the best result of his WorldSSP comeback season so far in Race One at Assen, securing sixth place. His team-mate Jeremy Alcoba was a strong ninth in what was a highly competitive opening race.

On Friday 17 April, Dominique had qualified 11th on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 machine, and his team-mate Jeremy was eventually 14th fastest over a single lap of the 4.542km circuit. This left Aegerter with a fourth row start, while Alcoba launched from the fifth row.

The opening race, held in dry conditions but with spots of rain appearing at one stage, was a classic event in its own right at a classic circuit.

After running at the head of the second group of riders, a consistently strong pace and some issues within the leading group allowed Dominique and five other riders to close in over the final laps, to the point whereby the top ten riders finished within two seconds of race winner Jaume Masia.

An integral part of the chasing group, and then the eventual leading bunch, Alcoba would cross the line in ninth place, but only 1.690 seconds from the race win.

One final Assen WorldSSP race remains to be run, on Sunday 19 April, once more over 18 laps of this evocative circuit in the Netherlands.

Manuel Puccetti: “Both our riders ran a great race today, making a good recovery. Aegerter was able to latch on to the leading group in the final stages, bringing the chasing group with him, which included a tough Alcoba. A good step forward, which leaves me confident ahead of tomorrow’s race.”

Jeremy Alcoba: “I am happy and unhappy about the first race at Assen. This is the first time that I am not the first Kawasaki rider in the results, so we have something to improve for Race Two. Also, I am happy because even though I missed some speed through the whole race, I was around one-and-a-half seconds from the winner. So, the gap was really close. I enjoyed the race a lot; it was a lot of fun, but I’m not happy because I struggled a lot when I was trying to manage the tyre for the last part. When I tried to attack and catch them, I did not have grip. So, yes, this is where we need to improve. I think it will be a good race tomorrow, even though we will start 16th and not 14th. But if we have a really good start like we had today, I think we can fight for – why not – the podium. Thanks to the team for all the work.”

Dominique Aegerter: “We had a great race, but there was a difficult choice for the tyres on the grid. The team and I made the right choice. There was a big fight with a lot of riders, and there were small drops of rain in the middle of the race, so you couldn’t touch the white lines. We can take this result home today and we can start the second race from P5, which is great. I hope it continues like this, so we can be close to the riders in front. We need to try to make a similar result on Sunday to say that we are now there. Big thanks to the team because they were great and they worked hard. I hope the better weather will stay with us tomorrow.”

Assen round complete for Kawasaki WorldSBK Team

Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) took part in the final two races of the Assen WorldSBK weekend, finishing in 14th and 18th places.

Gerloff started the ten-lap Superpole Race 16th on the grid, making for a sixth row launch. On his Ninja ZX-10RR, he got to 13th position after the first lap, and then ended up 14th at the flag.

In the second 21-lap race of the Assen weekend, officially known as Race Two, Gerloff was 18th on lap one, 17th on lap two, before being dropped to 21st on the third lap. He got into his final 18th position with three laps to go.

In the championship standings, after three full rounds and nine individual races, Garrett is 14th overall.

After Assen, the WorldSBK paddock will reform in Hungary for Round Four, at the Balaton Park circuit, between 1-3 May.

Manuel Puccetti: “A complicated day for Gerloff and for our team. In Race 2, a contact through the first laps forced Garrett to come off the gas and lose contact with the chasing group. Bad luck aside, we still have work to do to be back fighting for the top ten.”

Garrett Gerloff: “I am trying my best to be positive, but it is a little difficult as this was not a good race weekend at all. I am really sorry for the team for the lack of results. We are going to have weekends where we struggle, and this was just one of them. I want to put this weekend behind us and focus on the next one at Balaton Park. Let’s try to find positives and then head to the next race weekend.”

Red flag finish for WorldSSP Race Two

Kawasaki WorldSSP Team riders Jeremy Alcoba and Dominique Aegerter took part in what was an eventually shortened second WorldSSP race at Assen on Sunday, 19 April, with each rider scoring championship points.

With light rain falling and some slightly damp patches evident on the track, the second 18-lap WorldSSP race at Assen, scheduled to be run over 18 laps, got underway under grey skies.

Slipstreaming and frequent changes of the leading positions characterised the race around the 4.542km circuit, with the leading group actually growing in size, not reducing, at one stage.

The Kawasaki WorldSSP Team duo of Alcoba and Aegerter rode in close company, in ninth and tenth places, for a period of time. With six laps gone, Alcoba had started to close in on the large leading group. He chased hard to stay in contention for a top ten place throughout, and on lap 12, he moved up to eighth.

Aegerter lost some places due to running wide more than once after on-track incidents with other riders, losing contact with the leading groups for a few laps.

A red flag brought the action to an end after 13 of the planned 18 laps, due to a crash at Turn Five, with Alcoba riding in eighth place. He remained eighth after the track positions when the red flag was factored into the final results, which were taken from lap 12. Aegerter was ranked 15th in Race Two, scoring another point.

In the championship standings after three rounds and six races, Alcoba is eighth and Aegerter 15th. Jeremy has 43 points and Dominique 16.

The next round of the WorldSSP class will be held in Hungary – for the second visit of the WorldSBK circus to the Balaton Park circuit since its inclusion last year – between 1-3 May.

Manuel Puccetti: “It was a great race in which our riders played a key role. Alcoba in particular made a strong recovery and unfortunately the red flag stopped him just as he had caught the chasing group. He had the pace to reach the podium.”

Jeremy Alcoba: “It was a shame today because we had a really good pace and I felt super good with the SC0 tyre. The weather was cold today but I felt good in warm-up on a used tyre. At the beginning of the race we struggled a bit because the first sector was wet, so everybody was calm and watching what could happen at the front. I took it easy at the beginning, and when I started to take confidence and felt good, I started to come back and pass other riders. I had strong pace and I could have made a good result today but the red flag finished the race with six laps to go, so we finished in the top eight. I am happy because the feeling and the speed are there. If we are still working like this then we can do better in the next one.”

Dominique Aegerter: “The Sunday race did not go as we expected. There were difficult conditions out there, a little bit wet at the start and also drops of rain. We finished 15th and got one point. I am, for sure, disappointed with this. In the race we were a little bit unlucky as we had two or three big hits with other riders, and they pushed me out of the track. We lost three or four positions, and then there was also a red flag six laps before the end. I was thinking that I could have improved my finishing position a little bit. We need to work a lot now at home to improve our package. Saturday’s result was not bad, but for sure we have a lot of work in front of us. We need to continue to believe in the team and myself and we will be back soon in Hungary for the next round.”