Gerloff hopes BMW move "brings out something better in me"

Ahead of last weekend's Barcelona round, it was announced that American rider Gerloff will move to the satellite BMW outfit for next year, effectively taking the place vacated by the soon-to-retire Eugene Laverty.

After a promising debut season in 2020 with GRT Yamaha, Gerloff's form took a downturn last year after he was involved in a first-corner collision with the Japanese marque's main title hopeful Toprak Razgatlioglu at Assen.

The 27-year-old has spoken about how the fallout from that incident, as well as others that year, took its toll on him mentally.

Amid a disappointing first half of the 2022 campaign with GRT, Gerloff admitted that he could see the upsides in "changing things up" for what will be his fourth season since making the move across from MotoAmerica.

"I’m really excited to get started with those guys," he told the official WSBK website. "It seems like they’ve been doing a lot of work developing the bike, and looking at the results it seems like it’s been paying off, and they seem pretty keen to work with me, which I was really excited about.

"I definitely see that they have the desire to keep pushing the bike to get close to the front of the field, which is where I want to be also.

"Sometimes it’s good to change things up and see if it can’t help in some way, for me specifically. We’ll see how it goes, but I really appreciated them being excited to work with me, that was really nice."

 

Asked if a change of scenery would be needed to return to his best form, Gerloff replied: "Who knows in the end, but it would be nice if that were the case!

"It’s been epic working with GRT and Yamaha the last three years, it’s not like there was anything that pushed me away, definitely not.

"I just wanted something different, I’ve been with Yamaha for 11 years, which has been an amazing time, but maybe working with different people might bring out something even better in me, so hopefully that’s the case."

Gerloff will be joined at the Bonovo BMW team by Loris Baz, who was confirmed to keeping his seat for 2023 prior to Barcelona.

The French rider expressed his enthusiasm about sharing a garage with Gerloff, saying he expects his new teammate to benefit from the move.

"We know how fast Garrett is," Baz said. "He was really strong when he [first] showed up in the paddock, and even if he is having some harder races lately, you don’t lose your talent.

"I’m sure changing brands and having a new start with people who believe in him will help him a lot."

Gerloff ended a podium drought dating back to last year's Donington Park round in the opening race at Barcelona, finishing third behind points leader Alvaro Bautista and six-time champion Jonathan Rea.

Despite crashing out of the final race of the weekend, he now sits 11th in the riders' standings, second-best of the independent riders.