The two-day test for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” was a chance for teams and riders to prepare for the upcoming Emilia-Romagna Round as well as test some new items for the 2023 campaign. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) enjoyed a strong test at Misano as he finished as the fastest BMW rider across the two days which came off the back of a strong Catalunya Round for the Texan.

Gerloff’s best time was set on Day 1 of the test when he posted a 1’34.345s, which gave him fifth place on Day 1. He was just over a second down on pacesetter Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) with the reigning Champion edging closer to the 1’32s bracket at Misano but falling just short. In terms of other BMW riders, Gerloff was just under a tenth ahead of Tom Sykes (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in seventh and three tenths ahead of Sykes’ teammate, Scott Redding, in ninth.

The second day of action in Italy was disrupted by rain showers during the day, with one coming about an hour into the day and the other in the afternoon. Times were generally slower on Day 2 with Gerloff posting a 1’34.832s and finishing in eighth place. He was around a tenth slower than Redding in sixth while Sykes was a tenth back. Gerloff’s teammate, Loris Baz, finished both days as the slowest BMW rider as he continues his recovery from injury.

Looking back on both days of his test, Gerloff said: “I wasn’t really expecting to have so many dry laps, so that’s positive, for sure. Yesterday was really good, we made a lot of progress. We tried just small things but all the small things add up. We ended the day in a good position and I was happy with that. Today, we did not go out before the rain so we did not have any dry laps in the morning. In the afternoon just the grip did not feel so great but anyway, we were happy with how the test went, especially yesterday. We have a lot of information for the race coming up soon, so I am looking forward to that.”

Gerloff enjoyed a strong Catalunya Round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya a few days before the test as he took three top-ten finishes and he will be hoping he can follow this up at Misano at the start of June, a circuit he has gone well at in the past with four top-ten finishes in six races when running Yamaha machinery. During the test, Gerloff conducted a series of short stints with the longest being a six-lap run, on Day 1. Five of these laps were in a 1’34s bracket with his best time of the day coming on the fifth lap, which was also his penultimate lap on Day 1.

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