Best opening day yet for Garrett Gerloff

Garrett Gerloff finished sixth overall in the combined Free Practice time sheets after the first day of track action at Donington Park, on Friday 11 July. This pace delivered his best start to a race weekend since he joined Kawasaki Team this season.

The Texan enjoyed the summer weather conditions that graced the 4.023km long circuit in the East Midlands of England; so much so that he was fifth in the afternoon’s FP2 session, before being ranked sixth overall when those times were combined with those set in FP1 in the morning.

Gerloff, who has recently re-signed with his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team for the 2026 season, was at ease with the set-up on his Ninja ZX-10RR from the start.

After collating all the data and sector-by-sector information from the first two free practice sessions he will work with his crew to try and improve the set-up even more, particularly in the first two sectors of the lap.

Garret and his crew will now prepare for a final FP3 practice session on Saturday 12 July, which will be followed by Superpole Qualifying and the first 23-lap WorldSBK race of the weekend.

Sunday 13 July will feature one ten-lap Superpole Race and a second full 23-lap race to finish the Donington WorldSBK weekend.

Garrett Gerloff: “That was the best Friday I have had. I have not seen too many one digit numbers next to my name. The bike feels good here and I like this track – so that helps for sure. I also think we are just getting into a better window with the bike. So, we were able to start from a better place with everything and that paid off today. We can see from the sector times that in S1 and S2 I am not great, but in S3 and S4 I am close to the top. The bike is so good in really hard braking areas, going down to first gear, and then going out of the corner again. The lap times are really, really close here, and at one point I think there was one tenth of a second between eight guys in the mid-pack.”

Thirteenth for Jeremy Alcoba in Superpole at Donington Park

The WorldSSP field enjoyed warm, sunny conditions as the seventh championship round began at Donington Park in the UK today. During the morning, Jeremy Alcoba completed a practice session in which he adapted his ZX-6R 636 machine to the winding British track. The Spaniard placed seventh with a time of 1’30”330.

The afternoon’s Superpole established the grid for Saturday’s race. Though he gave it his all and had the team’s full support, the Spaniard wasn’t able to improve as much as he’d hoped, not least because his best time was twice cancelled due to a yellow flag. At the end of qualifying, his best reference was a 1’30”119, which saw him place thirteenth. With this result, Jeremy will start Saturday’s race from the fifth row of the grid.

Donington Park – Castle Donington – UK
Supersport World Championship
Superpole: 1) Manzi (Yamaha) – 2) Oncu (Yamaha) – 3) Masia (Ducati) – 4) Casadei (MV Agusta) – Mahias (Yamaha) – 6) Debise (Ducati) ……… 13) Alcoba (Kawasaki)

Jeremy Alcoba: “I’m not at all pleased with how things went in Superpole. I expected a lot more of myself and the feeling with my bike. At the start of the session, I was up at the front, but then the others improved and I didn’t have the opportunity to express our full potential, also because my fastest lap was twice cancelled in that I set it while the yellow flag was out. In the final stages, I tried to push but the tyres were worn, and I couldn’t do more than thirteenth. The positive is that we have great pace and so I’ll try to make up as many positions as possible in tomorrow’s race and fight for the podium.”

Garrett Gerloff moves up to eighth in Race One

Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) entered the first race of the Donington WorldSBK weekend on the fourth row of the grid, before moving up to finish eighth after 23-competitive laps had been completed.

The 4.023KM long circuit was already warm when the Superpole Qualifying session got underway at 11am on Saturday 12 July, with Garrett ending up 12th quickest on his Ninja ZX-10RR.

An early opportunity arose for Garrett after three riders in front of him collided and fell – without any significant injury – in the first corner on lap one. Garrett gained a higher track position immediately and rode in tenth place for three laps. He moved up to ninth on lap four, then eighth at half race distance.

The American rider inside the Italian-based team ended up in a four way rider group across the finish line, with no more laps available to try and make even more progress in the final results.
Eighth place equalled Gerloff’s previous season best, showing that recent progress with the bike set-up and rider familiarisation is heading in a positive direction.

After the end of the Saturday race action for Garrett and his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team they will now look forward to competing in the ten-lap Superpole Race, and a second 23-lap Race Two on Sunday 13 July.

Garrett Gerloff: “I felt pretty good on the bike. It is unfortunate what happened in the first corner but that put me forward a bit in the race. I was trying my best to stay with the guys in front of me, but in the beginning of the race I have a difficult time trying to do the lap times. Towards the end of the race it comes better for me. In the end I was eighth. I will take it, but I want better on Sunday.”

An incredible race for Jeremy Alcoba as he finishes seventh after starting thirty-first

The seventh WorldSSP round continues for the Kawasaki WorldSSP Team and rider Jeremy Alcoba at Donington Park.

The Spaniard was on track yesterday for free practice and Superpole, in which he qualified thirteenth. His result was conditioned by yellow flags in the final stages that prevented him from improving on his fastest time.

As if that were not enough, Race Direction demoted him to the back of today’s race grid, the Spaniard accused of having passed riders in Superpole while the yellow flags were out.

As a result, Alcoba lined up on the eleventh row of the grid, in thirty-first position, for the afternoon’s race.

Jeremy made a very fast start and was already up into fifteenth by the end of lap two. He continued his brilliant comeback over subsequent laps, working his way up through the field to finish an incredible seventh!

The Spaniard places eighth in the championship standings, with 87 points.

Jeremy will return to the track tomorrow for the final race of this British WorldSSP round.

Donington Park – Castle Donington – UK
Supersport World Championship
Race 1: 1) Manzi (Yamaha) -2) Booth Amos (Triumph) – 3) Mahias (Yamaha) – 4) Masia (Ducati) – 5) Oncu (Yamaha) – 6) Oettl (Ducati) – 7) Alcoba (Kawasaki)

Jeremy Alcoba: “We went from the last row of the grid to P7, so we made a really big comeback. I want to say thank you to my whole team because from Friday to today they took a really good step with the set-up of my Ninja ZX-6R 636. Even in morning warm-up I felt really fast and strong. We found the grip that we were missing in Friday’s Superpole qualifying session. I am generally happy with the race, because I made my best start and remained calm. I tried to manage the tyres throughout the race. I was telling myself to avoid making any errors that I might pay for later. I’m very happy because I fought hard and enjoyed myself. I hope we can do more tomorrow; it should be easier starting from fourteenth on the grid.”

Best 2025 race day yet for Garrett Gerloff

Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) took part in two WorldSBK races on Sunday 13 July at Donington Park and secured his best single race result and overall best weekend performance in what is his debut season riding the Ninja ZX-10RR.

Having finished Saturday’s Opening 23-lap Race in eighth place, Garrett would enter the ten-lap Superpole Race on Sunday full of confidence.

In finishing eighth again he would score championship points for the first time in a ‘sprint’ race this season, which awards points in a different way from a full WorldSBK race. Points are only issued down to the rider in ninth place – not 15th place like the full distance races.

Gerloff’s confidence in his ever-improving machine set-up paid an even greater dividend in Race Two, on Sunday afternoon, as the American rider had his best individual race result of the year. He was sixth after 23 laps of the 4.023km circuit and scored ten championship points as a result.

In a very tight midfield battle in the championship rankings after seven rounds, Garrett is 16th overall, with 60 points – 20 of which were earned at the Donington Park round alone.

Now that the Donington Race Weekend has been completed, the Balaton Park circuit in Hungary will host its first WorldSBK weekend, between 25-27 July.

Garrett Gerloff: “I feel like today we made a big step with the bike, mainly in the electronics. It is just nice to feel that everything is coming naturally. In general it was a good day. I had two good starts and two good first laps, so I put myself in a decent spot and didn’t lose positions. I am pretty happy. Every time I ride the bike I have a clearer idea of what can be changed to make it better. But that takes time so I just need more time riding the bike to figure that stuff out. Everything is pointing in the same direction and we are all on the same page about set-up stuff. There is definitely more room for us to grow. I think if we can make some changes we can make an even bigger step in the right direction.”

Jeremy Alcoba makes another fantastic recovery in Race 2 at Donington Park

The seventh WorldSSP round concluded today at Donington Park in the UK. Yesterday Jeremy Alcoba ran an incredible Race 1 that saw him climb from the last row of the grid (penalised for having executed passes while the yellow flags were out during Superpole) to final seventh position, having made a fantastic recovery.

This afternoon, the Kawasaki WorldSSP rider lined up for Race 2 on the fifth row of the grid, based on his Race 1 lap times.

He made a very fast start and was lying eleventh through the initial stages. Battling as part of the chasing group and maintaining a strong pace, Alcoba was able to make up placed. Tenth at the mid-race point, the Spaniard was able to pass another two rivals to cross the line eighth and score important championship points. He now lies eighth in the standings, with 105 points.

The next WorldSSP round will run on 25-27 July at the Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary.

Donington Park – Castle Donington – UK
Supersport World Championship
Race 2: 1) Oncu (Yamaha) – 2) Booth-Amos (Triumph) – 3) Mahias (Yamaha) – 4) Masia (Ducati) – 5) Garcia (Yamaha) – 6) Oettl (Ducati) – 7) Manzi (Yamaha) – 8) Alcoba (Kawasaki)

Jeremy Alcoba: “We are finished now in Donington and we took some good points for the championship. I am really happy because it was the first time here for me and for the Ninja ZX-6R 636 Kawasaki. We improved with every lap and every session that we went out on track. I want to say thanks to all my team because we did a really good job. Yesterday, in Race One, we made a really big comeback. Today was a little bit more difficult because everybody improved. We also improved and our pace was really good. I tried to manage the tyre, like yesterday, but it was not enough and the guys in front were a bit faster. I tried to give my all through the whole race and we achieved a eighth position. I am happy and let’s see how we go in the next race.”