Podium redemption for Gerloff after ‘I threw away’ race one opportunity

Garrett Gerloff secures maiden WorldSBK Donington podium - his first of 2021 with second place in race two.

05 Jul 2021

Garrett Gerloff, Donington Park WorldSBK race 2, 4 July 2021
© Gold and Goose

After crashing from a podium position in race one, Garrett Gerloff bounced back to claim a WorldSBK Donington podium on his debut at the British circuit.

Whether it was dry or wet conditions, Gerloff adapted to Donington Park with impressive ease as he topped the overall classification on day one.

Gerloff then had the chance to claim a podium at the first time of asking during race one, however, a mistake while running third allowed Alex Lowes to inherit that spot and subsequent rostrum.

But after rebounding with second in the weekend’s final race, Gerloff was happy to repay the team which ‘hasn’t happened as often as I would have liked’ - on independence day too.

"It feels awesome to be on the podium on the 4 of July, and it feels even better to be on it with the GRT team, they work so hard and they have so much passion for racing," he said.

"I have been trying my best to repay them and it hasn’t happened as often as I would have liked, so it feels very nice to be second, which is also my best ever result in a long race.

"The weekend had started so well and I was very excited; then yesterday’s race did not begin in the best of ways, but I had gotten back to third place before I threw away the podium.

"Therefore, today I was happy to at least maintain my position in the Superpole Race and I felt really good with the bike, but then it seemed that it would rain again in Race 2: the sky looked really dark and it was definitely coming, but it ended up working out in the best way for me. We still have more potential to pull out, but we have gotten a lot closer."

Up next for Gerloff is a return to Assen after recently competing there in MotoGP. The American is excited to ride there on ‘a bike I know’.

Gerloff added: "Next up is Assen, where I could already get some experience recently, but I know that it will feel completely different on a Superbike.

"At least I know where to go left and where to go right, and I am happy to race there on these bikes, as it was a bit of a struggle for me on a MotoGP.

"Having a bike I know under me will make it easier for sure, and the track is a lot of fun too, so I can’t wait!"