Crash.Net's Top 10 WorldSBK Riders of 2021: 10th - Garrett Gerloff

Garrett Gerloff finished the 2021 WorldSBK season seventh in the standings, but we have ranked the American three spots lower in 10th.

It’s difficult to call a season in which claiming top ‘Independent rider’ honours and two podium finishes a disappointment, but given the expectation surrounding Gerloff going into the season, tenth out of ten is where we believe he merits to be. 

The GRT Yamaha rider showed electric speed especially at the beginning of the season, however, various on-track misjudgements while fighting for podium results (Aragon, Estoril and Assen) led the ex-MotoAmerica rider to have several incidents with other riders such as Jonathan Rea, Michael Rinaldi and 2021 world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu. 

From that point forward Gerloff was unable to shake off an apparent loss of confidence which mostly affected his early race pace when battling other riders. 

It must also be said that Gerloff’s seventh place finish in the championship was significantly aided by Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes missing several races towards the end of the year - both ahead of him at the time of their injuries.

Like in 2020, Gerloff was also provided another opportunity to impress in MotoGP as he stepped-in for an injured Franco Morbidelli at the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. 

This time it was an entire race weekend as opposed to a single day of practice like in Valencia, and while it wasn’t a bad performance overall, Gerloff failed to take full advantage of his opportunity as he ultimately finished 17th - over 20 seconds off the points. 

The 26 year-old is contracted to Yamaha until 2023 and will need a big year in 2022 if he’s to either get a Pata Yamaha seat going forward or even a full-time MotoGP ride. 

Gerloff 2021 stats:

Championship Finish: 7th

Points: 228

Wins: 0

Podiums: 2

Pole Positions: 0

Top Ten Results: 29

Points Scores: 33

Front Row Starts: 0

Overall crash total: 10

Non-Finishes: 4

Races: 37