Garrett Gerloff finished sixth in Race 2 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship Sunday at Donington Park in England. The Kawasaki WorldSBK Team rider earned 10 championship points in what Kawasaki described as his best individual race result of the year before the series’ summer break.
Gerloff’s sixth-place finish in Race 2 on Sunday at Donington Park marked his best individual race result of the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season, according to Kawasaki WorldSBK Team officials. The race, held over 23 laps of the 4.023-kilometer circuit in the East Midlands of England, saw Gerloff complete the approximately 92.5-kilometer distance 16.656 seconds behind winner Nicolo Bulega of Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, official timing records show. Gerloff earned 10 championship points for his performance, contributing to his consistent top-ten form throughout the Donington weekend.
Gerloff completed the approximately 92.5-kilometer distance 16.656 seconds behind winner Nicolo Bulega of Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, official timing records show.
Kawasaki described Sunday as Gerloff’s “best race day yet at Donington Park,” citing his progression from a strong sixth place in combined Free Practice on Friday to an eighth-place finish in Race 1 on Saturday, followed by the improved sixth place in Race 2. On Friday, July 11, Gerloff posted the sixth-fastest overall time in combined Free Practice sessions, including a fifth-place result in FP2, marking his strongest opening day at a WorldSBK weekend since joining the Kawasaki team, according to team communications. Gerloff attributed part of his strong pace to the favorable summer weather conditions, which he said he enjoyed throughout the weekend.
The Kawasaki team linked Gerloff’s improved Sunday result directly to recent progress with bike set-up and rider familiarization. Officials stated that his “confidence in his ever-improving machine set-up paid an even greater dividend in Race Two,” and that the combination of an eighth place on Saturday and sixth place on Sunday demonstrated that both bike adjustments and rider acclimation were moving “in a positive direction.” This upward trend was evident in Gerloff’s consistent top-ten finishes across the weekend, including sixth in Free Practice, eighth in Race 1, and sixth in Race 2.
Race 2 at Donington Park featured a competitive field, with Nicolo Bulega taking the win by a margin of 4.161 seconds over teammate Iker Lecuona, who advanced from a tenth-place grid start to finish second, according to official classification. Yari Montella of Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati completed the podium in third place. Gerloff finished just behind Alex Lowes, who placed fifth at 15.582 seconds off the lead. Bulega also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1 minute, 25.249 seconds, records show.
Gerloff, born August 1, 1995, in Texas, has competed in the Superbike World Championship since 2020. He began his WorldSBK career with the GRT Yamaha team before moving to Kawasaki, where he currently rides the ZX-10RR. His performance at Donington Park has been consistently strong throughout his career; notably, he achieved a career-best second-place finish in Race 2 at Donington in a previous season riding for Yamaha, finishing behind Toprak Razgatlioglu. The 2024 results underscore Donington Park as a favorable circuit for the American rider.
The Donington Park round was the final event before the WorldSBK calendar’s in-season summer break. The race weekend’s schedule included Free Practice on Friday, Race 1 on Saturday, and the Superpole Race plus Race 2 on Sunday afternoon. Kawasaki officials emphasized that Gerloff’s performance on Sunday provides momentum heading into the next phase of the season, reflecting positive developments in both rider and machine preparation.
