Gerloff joins Oettl and Van Der Mark in missing remainder of WorldSBK Estoril

Gerloff, who was looking in terrific from through free practice - finished Friday’s WorldSBK action third on combined times - was set to improve into the top ten before suffering his late session crash. 

The American rider remains without a result worthy of his potential so far this season, however, Estoril was looking like a weekend where regular top five, if not podiums could have been possible. 

• 2022 World Superbike Estoril, Portugal - Superpole Results 
• 2022 World Superbike Estoril, Portugal - Free Practice Results (3) 
• Paul Denning wants Toprak Razgatlioglu WorldSBK stay; decision out of his hands

Gerloff suffered a ‘deep wound’ on his left knee, and after medical checks it was determined that the Texan would need to skip the rest of the weekend. 

Gerloff is not alone in being ruled out of the Estoril WorldSBK weekend as Philipp Oettl and Michael Van Der Mark have also been forced to withdraw. 

Oettl suffered a fractured right collarbone following a crash at the same turn 13, which has since resulted in scheduled commentator for the weekend with Eurosport, Xavi Fores replacing the German rookie at Goeleven Ducati. 

"What a pity about this injury," said Oettl. "It happens to us now, as I was becoming more and more familiar with this Ducati. In FP1 we rode the whole session with the same tyre, taking it beyond the race distance, then in FP2 we were trying to get a good time on the SCX soft tyre, and right at the last corner I crashed with a hard highside! 

"Rolling in the gravel I broke my collarbone, and will have to have an operation to recover as soon as possible. 

"I was also lucky enough, however, because the crash was heavy the consequences could have been even worse. I thank the team for the work done in this round. We were also competitive here in Estoril and that's what counts. 

"If everything goes according to plan we will be there in Misano!"

Van Der Mark’s awful 2022 WorldSBK campaign continues

The first rider to crash and subsequently suffer injury was BMW’s Van Der Mark. 

The Dutch rider, who entered this weekend already less than 100% following his mountain bike accident earlier in the year, broke his right right neck femur. 

Unlike Oettl and Ducati, Van Der Mark has not been replaced for the remainder of the weekend, meaning Scott Redding who qualified fourth for today’s first of three races is on solo duty. 

Van Der Mark has already been operated on and will now look to be back for next month’s Misano round. 

In terms of the on-track action, Jonathan Rea will start from pole for race one in Estoril after bringing reigning world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu’s pole streak of two to an end. 

Over six tenths down was championship leader Alvaro Bautista, however, the Ducati rider has shown more race pace so far at the Portuguese circuit, meaning a three-way fight for the win could again be on the cards.