WorldSBK, Kawasaki surprises everyone at Most: Gerloff flies, but isn’t getting carried away

Stunning performance by the Ninja on Superbike Friday in the Czech Republic: after a top 5 at Balaton Park, are more big results on the way?

Who would have imagined seeing Garrett Gerloff at the top of the timesheets after SBK free practice in Most? No one. Used to the dominance of Nicolò Bulega and Ducati, it seems hard to think a different brand could be in P1 even after Friday’s sessions. But that’s what happened in the Czech Republic. True, it was only Friday and Bulega crashed, but it’s worth highlighting the excellent work done by the Kawasaki team led by Manuel Puccetti.

This morning’s FP3 is an opportunity to further raise the level of a Ninja ZX-10RR that’s been performing quite well. Progress is definitely needed in race pace and consistency.

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The Texan rider spoke to the official WorldSBK channels and didn’t hide his satisfaction with his FP2 time, but at the same time he knows he must make significant progress: "I came back into the pits and I asked: ‘That was the race tire, right?’ They said yes, I just smiled and said ‘Okay’! I felt good, I’m really happy with the team and how we’re working, I feel like we found something at Balaton and I expected it to work here as well, but I didn’t expect it to work this well. I wasn’t consistent in practice, so I definitely need to work on consistency. I had that lap and then I made a bunch of mistakes, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself."

Gerloff doesn’t want to get carried away by Friday’s P1, which, incidentally, began with a crash at Turn 1: "We made some good changes — he explains — and in the end we’re happy with what we did". The work done on his Kawasaki in terms of setup paid off, and he did well to exploit what seems to be a strong point of the bike, namely braking.

Being on top after Superbike FP2 doesn’t make him believe he can aim for the podium just yet. The Kawasaki rider is realistic: "I would really like to get another top-five finish, it’s definitely going to be tough, everyone is going fast. This result was like a ray of light, but it will be hard and I’m aware of that. We need to keep working; there are some things I still want to improve on the bike."

We’ll see if the Ninja slots into the top 5 again; that would be very positive. Keep in mind that Kawasaki in 2026 is bringing to the track a bike evolved from last year’s, with a technical package still to be explored and developed. Having only one rider makes the work more complicated, even though Manuel Puccetti has admitted in the past that he aims to field two bikes in 2027. That would be a nice step forward for the project.