Garrett Gerloff battling hard on day one at Misano

Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) ended his opening day of practice at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ in 16th place, in what were hot air and track conditions.

The Misano circuit, near the Adriatic coast of Italy, was the site of a mid-season test session, towards the end of May. On the opening day of competitive WorldSBK track action, at the seventh round of the WorldSBK Championship, Gerloff could not replicate the strong pace he showed in testing on his Ninja ZX-10RR.

As the track conditions started to change between FP1 and FP2 today, almost every rider went faster. Gerloff was one of only two who could not find an increase in pace as track temperatures began to rise to almost 50°C, as the track surface itself started to bed in.

Gerloff’s afternoon pace of 1’33.657 was only marginally slower than his FP1 time of 1’33.640, but it left him in 16th place overall at the end of the opening day.

Saturday 13 June will feature an FP3 session, Superpole Qualifying and a 21-lap Race One. A ten-lap Tissot Superpole Race and a final full-distance race will end the track action at Misano, on Sunday 14 June.

Garrett Gerloff: “I am a little bit off the times I set at the recent Misano tests and I don’t know why, which is frustrating. The only thing I can think of is that the track felt a little dirty this morning, and I was similar to Alex and Axel from BbKRT. Then this afternoon everybody made a jump and I am just stuck in the same place. It is frustrating, especially after having a good Aragon race weekend, more or less, when we ended it well. I feel like I am doing everything the same but I am getting a different result. I am trying to understand why. I do not want to be like this, I want to be consistently nearer the front. Now I need to go over the data with my guys, then we can make a decision.”

Dominique Aegerter and Jeremy Alcoba qualify on row 6 and 7 in Superpole at Misano

The first day of action making up the seventh Supersport World Championship round played out today at the Italy’s Misano World Circuit. This is a home round for the Kawasaki WorldSSP Team, which is headquartered less than 200 km from the Italian circuit.

In hot and sunny conditions, riders Jeremy Alcoba and Dominique Aegerter took part in the morning’s free practice, using the track time to prepare for the afternoon’s Superpole. The Swiss rider placed seventeenth (1’38”044), while the Spaniard closed nineteenth (1’38”370).

The Superpole, which establishes the Race 1 starting grid, ran in the afternoon in decidedly higher temperatures. Despite tougher conditions, both riders improved but maintained almost the same positions in the standings.

Aegerter qualified eighteenth (1’37”433), immediately ahead of Alcoba (1’37”648).

Thanks to these results, Dominque will line up row six and Jeremy from row seven for the first of the weekend’s races which will take place tomorrow, running over a distance of 19 laps.

Jeremy Alcoba: “It was quite a difficult first day. We gave it our all, but already during the morning free practice session I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. We have very little grip and I’m struggling to stop the bike effectively. We need to analyze the data we collected to find some solutions for tomorrow’s race, but I’m confident because this is the Team’s home round and everyone is giving their maximum effort to achieve a strong result.”

Dominique Aegerter: “Misano is my team’s home round, and in a way I can consider it a bit of a home round for myself as well. Today we were closer to the fastest riders and both the team and I worked very hard. Our lap time is good, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about my starting position. A difficult race awaits us and I will need to push at the maximum from the very first laps. Many of my fans have come here from Switzerland to support me, and that gives me extra motivation to perform well. If we can make a good start, we can aim for a top-ten finish. Thanks to the team for the work they have done today.”

Garrett Gerloff in the Race One points at Misano

Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) had a challenging first raceday at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ on Saturday, 13 July, after being unable to set a lap time in the Superpole Qualifying session.

At the seventh round of the 2026 WorldSBK Championship, Superpole Qualifying was a pivotal moment for Garrett Gerloff and his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team. In his eagerness to set a fast early qualifying pace at his team’s home round, Gerloff fell on his out lap, without injury.

With his bike too badly damaged to repair before the end of the Superpole session, Garrett had to start Race One from the back of the grid.

The Texan rider pushed as much as he could on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR and would move forward through the 21-lap race to finish in 14th position, scoring two championship points for his efforts.

There will be two more opportunities for Garrett to post strong race results on Sunday, 14 June. The now traditional ten-lap Superpole Race and a final 21-lap Race Two will complete the WorldSBK action at Misano, in what are expected to be hot ambient temperatures once again.

Manuel Puccetti: “Garrett’s unfortunate crash in this morning’s Superpole conditioned his Race 1 result. Starting from last place on the grid, and with his second bike no less, because his first bike was badly damaged in the crash, Gerloff spent almost half the race trying to understand the bike in its new configuration. Once he got his head around that, he upped his pace and was able to reach the points zone. I don’t think he could have done more today honestly. The feeling ahead of the next two races is quite good and we are confident we can have a positive Sunday.”

Garrett Gerloff: “The team and I are really trying, but it was not a very easy day. I lost the front in Superpole qualifying trying to push for a fast lap – but I hadn’t actually finished a lap – so I did not set a time. After the crash, the bike was not in the best shape, so I could not go out again and had to start from last position. It was a difficult race and it was a hot one. I struggled to move forward as much as I wanted to. I was able to finish in the points at the end, but I feel really bad for the whole team. I really wanted this weekend to be a good one as it is a home race for them. I hope that tomorrow we can find something and be a bit more competitive, as the team deserves more. I will keep trying.”

Points scored for Kawasaki WorldSSP Team in Race One at Misano

In the first home race for the Kawasaki WorldSSP Team at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’, both riders scored championship points despite the hot and steamy weather conditions.

The first chance to score WorldSSP Championship points at Misano was taken by both Dominique Aegerter and Jeremy Alcoba, with Dominique 13th and Jeremy 14th on their Ninja ZX-6R 636 machines.

Having started 18th on the grid, Aegerter was able to improve on his grid position in the final analysis, scoring three points for his 13th place at the flag.

Alcoba was just 0.272 seconds behind his team-mate Aegerter after 18 intense laps of the 4.226km long Italian circuit, taking away two points after crossing the start/finish line in 14th position.

The air temperature in the first WorldSSP race got up to 30°C, with the track temperature reaching 52°C.

The final race of the Misano weekend will take place on Sunday 14 June, and is once again scheduled for 18 laps. It will start at 15.15 on Sunday, however, not 14.00 as in Race One today.

Manuel Puccetti: “In Race 1 today we were able to score points with both our riders, despite starting further back on the grid. Being able to do that in such a hard-fought, high-level race was not a given. It’s clear we have bigger goals, but we also know that our bike suffers in the high temperatures and this penalised us. Aegerter, who took part in his 400th world championship race today, was able to finish ahead of Alcoba and this confirms his progress. We hope to do better in tomorrow’s race, also as a way of thanking all our fans and sponsors who are here at Misano.”

Jeremy Alcoba: “We were struggling a bit from yesterday and we have not found the right way at the moment. I pushed and had a nice battle with Dominique. I think both of us were struggling this weekend, also with the hot temperatures, which are also not the best for our bike. I am disappointed, because for sure we want more, and especially here in the home race for the team. But that gives us a fire to push again tomorrow, so for sure we are going to try to find one or two steps and try to fight for the top ten on Sunday. Thanks to the team for the nice work today and tomorrow for sure we will have more.”

Dominique Aegerter: “I got to finish in the points today, for 13th place. It was very hot and the team made a very good job with the bike, so I felt good. It is just that we are on the limit in every corner so I hope we can improve a little bit in Sunday morning warm-up. I tried my best but for sure the position we started in did not help to make for a better result. I worked very hard on my side and the crew also worked very hard to try to improve the package. I made 400 World Championship race starts today, so a big thanks to my sponsors, supporters, teams and machinery suppliers who have helped me.”

Garrett Gerloff wraps up the weekend with more points

At the home round of his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team, Garrett Gerloff scored points in the final race of the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ weekend. He finished 12th in Race Two, having
started from 22nd place on the starting grid.

The seventh round of the 2026 WorldSBK Championship was a challenging one at times after Garrett fell on the out lap in Superpole Qualifying. On Sunday 14 June, however, Gerloff was 14th
in the ten-lap Superpole race and then 12th in the 21-lap Race Two.

Gerloff made strong forward progress aboard his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR in Race Two, and added four more points to his Misano race weekend total after finishing 14th in Saturday’s first
long race.

After seven championship rounds and 21 individual races, Garrett is ranked 11th in the overall standings, tied on a points total of 91 with one other rider.

The championship will now have three ‘free’ weekends before the next competitive round, which will be held at Donington Park, in the UK, between 10-12 July.

Manuel Puccetti: “This weekend, Garret Gerloff’s races were compromised by his crash in Superpole, which meant he had to start from the back of the grid. Starting from last position, our rider could only try to make up as man positions as possible and that’s what he did in both of today’s races, which he finished not far from the top ten.”

Garrett Gerloff: “That was a difficult weekend. I really wish I could say that it wasn’t, but after crashing in the first lap of Superpole Qualifying and not having a time set, then starting from the back row of the grid, it made my life way more difficult than it should have been. I am really sorry to the team because this is their home round and they had all their sponsors here. There was a really cool atmosphere, and I hope everybody really enjoyed it, but I feel bad that we had one of our worst on-track weekends on the weekend that they all came along. I hope we can get back to our strongest form, like we had before, at Donington Park.”

A top 5 for Jeremy Alcoba at the team’s home round

The Kawasaki WorldSSP Team finished their home race weekend at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ on a positive note after Jeremy Alcoba fought his way through to fifth in the final race classification. Dominique Aegerter finished 13th and scored more championship points.

The Italian-based Kawasaki WorldSSP Team and its many guests at Misano enjoyed the sunshine all weekend and then some real excitement in the final race for the WorldSSP competitors.

Jeremy Alcoba went from 19th on the grid to an eventual fifth place, ending his race just 8.513 seconds from the race winner despite his lowly starting position.

The 18-lap second race in WorldSSP was held in very hot conditions, with 34°C ambient temperatures and 52°C track temperatures to contend with for Jeremy, Dominique and their Ninja ZX-6R 636 machines.

The challenge was handled well, as even in finishing 13th (as he had in Saturday’s Race One) Aegerter finished just 11.369 seconds from race winner Albert Arenas. He was five seconds closer to the winner’s race time on Sunday than he was on Saturday.

Dominique could possibly have made even more advances but two contacts with other competitors lost him some ground near the end of what was the final race on the regular Misano WorldSBK race card.

In the championship, after seven of 12 rounds, Alcoba is ninth, with 100 points, while Aegerter is 17th, with 31 points.

There will be something of a mini-break in the championship before the eighth round of the WorldSSP Championship takes place between 10-12 July, at the Donington Park circuit in the UK.

Manuel Puccetti: “Alcoba scored a great result in Race 2, reaching the top five after recovering well. Aegerter also did well, finishing close to the top ten, where we want to place on a regular basis. We finish the weekend in a positive fashion and in roughly two weeks’ time we’ll carry out a two-day test (Cremona, 26-27 June), to improve the performance of our bike so that we can push for the goals we’ve set ourselves this season.”

Jeremy Alcoba: “We finished Sunday with a really good result. I did not expect to finish fifth after how the rest of the weekend went, but I have to say thanks to Kawasaki and all the team – everybody is here – as I felt the support. It was very hot today, but I didn’t feel it because I was pushing and feeling quite good. I managed the hot temperature really well, and the others were struggling. I tried to ride really smoothly, and every lap I saw that I was catching the big group of riders. I found the right way to pass them. With two laps to go, I looked back and saw that we were finally a group of three riders. I said ‘OK, overtake one of the riders in front this lap and then one on the last lap’, which I did in the same corner. I felt really well in the T14, and I made the same pass each time. I am very happy and I gave my all; more than 100%. Thanks to everybody and on to the next one!”

Dominique Aegerter: “The home race for the team is now complete and we are making some forward steps. We are getting closer to the front guys. I am getting a better feeling also, and I can adapt better to the bike now. I was 13th in that race and that’s for sure not what we expect, or the result that we want to have. But, we were fighting close to the top five, and Jeremy finished top five, so congrats to him. I had a little bit of bad luck in the last two laps, with two big hits from another rider. So I lost a few positions.”