The GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team completed his first outing of 2022 season with two days of test in Aragón. Plans changed a bit when arrived in Spain due to unpredictable weather forcing the team to review the schedule and anticipate action from 2nd March already.
With massive rain expected on Friday (4th March), Kohta Nozane and Garrett Gerloff went on track from Wednesday to finally begin their 2022 campaign after being far from their bikes for such a long time. The first day served both to regain feeling and confidence, over than planning their future steps.
Anyway, the GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team could not take full benefits from Day 1 due to tough weather condition. With track open from 13:00 local time, Gerloff and Nozane were able to make some laps but soft rain forced them to stop after a couple of hours.
Both riders tried to come back on track late afternoon as track seemed to drying up, but then more rain fell again obliging the team to finish the first day of test. So, at the end Garrett was able to make 21 laps with a best of 1.51.381 while Kohta made 16 laps with 1.53.465 as fastest lap.
On the second and last day, things were much better with a full sunny Thursday. Air and asphalt condition were good and both Nozane and Gerloff could have a lot of laps. The GRT Yamaha WorldSBK tested new parts brought by Yamaha, such as tank and seat, having a positive feedback. 1.49.820 was Gerloff’s fastest time (85 laps in total), while 1.51.238 was Nozane’s one (74 laps in total)
Gerloff and Nozane will not then come back on track on 4th March as weather predictions plan a lot of rain on the circuit. That is why the GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team decided to cancel that day of testing.
The next pre-season test sessions are scheduled for 16th-17th March in Misano.
Garrett Gerloff: "It's so epic and nice to be back on my Yamaha R1 after a long time, yesterday when I rode again the bike it was quite a shock! Today it was so cool to have a full dry day; we tried a bounch of new stuffs, including new brakes, and didn't touch suspensions or geometry. I'm just focusing on myself getting rhythm and that things. During the off-season I worked a lot on myself to improve every aspect, from physical one to mental one. I'm feeling to be in a really good place and glad to be back, now let's keep working and see how the things go in another track like Misano"
Kohta Nozane: "Finally we are back, it was such a long time! We had many test items and it was not easy to manage all the job but at the end we are satisfied and the job done was good. It's cool we had the possibility to make a lot of laps today, it's a good start for 2022 season. Now let's move to Misano: I like a lot the circuit and I cannot wait to be there, Italy is like my second home!"
Here you can download some HQ pictures from the two days
