Spending the weekend in France sounds like a glorious prospect, doesn’t it? But, for former MotoAmerica class champion and multi-time Superbike race winner Garrett Gerloff, his FIM Superbike World Championship weekend at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in the heart of France was more about acting with grace, skill, and confidence in the face of adversity (savoir faire) than it was about enjoying a carefree enthusiasm for life and finding delight in simple pleasures (joie de vivre). The lone Kawasaki WorldSBK Team rider persevered, and it’s a tale to be told.
The weekend started well for the Double-G, who has often enjoyed strong performances at Magny-Cours. He was seventh-fastest in Friday morning’s Free Practice 1 (FP1) out of the 23 riders who were in action from around the world. However, in the afternoon’s FP2, he uncovered some handling issues with his Kawasaki ZX-10RR while under braking, which moved him down to 13th-fastest by the end of the session.
Gerloff and his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team found some overnight set-up improvements, which enabled the Texan to take the ninth-best time in Saturday morning’s FP3 in the morning and give the team and him confidence heading into Superpole.
Unfortunately, GG31 suffered a tipover early in the 15-minute Superpole session, and as a result, he had to start Saturday’s Race 1 from the eighth and final row of the grid. On lap two of the 21-lap race, Gerloff moved forward in short fashion, and he also benefitted from five riders falling in two separate incidents at the same corner. On lap 18, he had moved all the way up to seventh, but he crashed after running a little wide. He got back aboard his Kawasaki and rejoined the race, but the bike was too damaged to continue so he was forced to retire.
“I am super-annoyed at myself and I am really sorry for the team,” Gerloff said at the end of the day on Saturday. “I crashed in Superpole and didn’t set a time, so I had to start from last position on the grid. I actually had a decent race going, where I think I was in the top six at one time. Then, I went wide, touched the paint, and crashed again. I want to say sorry to the team, and we will try again tomorrow.”
Gerloff had to start both of Sunday’s races—the 10-lap Superpole Race and the 21-lap weekend-concluding Race Two—from the very last row of the grid. Undaunted, he made decent forward progress during the Superpole Race, and he managed to move up to 14th position by the time he crossed the finish line. Starting at the very back of the grid again for Race Two, he took advantage of the full 21 laps and managed to work his way all the way up to 11th place at the checkers after overtaking half the field.
His persistence paid dividends since he was rewarded with his first championship points of the weekend. After nine of 12 rounds completed on the season, the Double-G is now ranked 16th, with a total of 72 Championship points accumulated overall.
“I have to say sorry to the team again because this was definitely not the weekend I was hoping for,” commented Gerloff. “Today, I was hoping to make some more progress in the Superpole Race, to try and be in the top nine for Race Two, but it was so tough. Andrea Locatelli and I started from the last row of the grid, and we were basically together for the full race, and also Race Two, making the same progress. The most I could do was 14th in the Superpole Race and 11th in Race Two. I am not super-happy, but we can’t change it now. We will try again in Spain, and I just want to end the year with some better results.”
The next round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at Motorland Aragon in Spain on September 26 through 28.
