Garrett Gerloff secures Puccetti Kawasaki ride for WorldSBK 2025

Kawasaki has signed Garrett Gerloff to be effectively its lead rider in 2025, as the American joins the Italian Puccetti team for next season.

Gerloff, who joined the Bonovo Action BMW team at the beginning of the 2023 season, was left looking for a new ride for 2025 when the team announced it would be leaving BMW at the end of the 2024 season and with its WorldSBK future uncertain.

Puccetti, which has long been the primary satellite team of Kawasaki in WorldSBK, has generally struggled in the last two seasons, with its 2024 rider, 2014 Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat currently sitting 21st in the riders’ standings and having picked up a best result of 14th, twice, in Race 2 at Misano, and then again in Race 2 at Most.

For Puccetti, which began its Kawasaki relationship back in 2004, the deal to sign Gerloff is accompanied by an agreement with Kawasaki for Puccetti to be the manufacturer’s “official team to maintain a Ninja presence” in 2025, as the Kawasaki Racing Team switches to new machinery, as Bimota — which is majority-owned by Kawasaki — re-enters the championship.

Manuel Puccetti, owner of Puccetti Racing, said that fielding official Kawasaki machinery in WorldSBK is “a dream come true”.

“On behalf of myself and my team, as well as my sponsors and my family, I would like to express what an honour and privilege this is. Since my first days in racing I personally appreciate the elements that make a rider or team successful.

“I started racing on a 125cc production machine in an Italian cup race in the late 1990s and by 2002 I had taken the challenging step to become a team owner. Just one truck, some motorcycles and a loyal group of sponsors to start with.

“In 2025, we will field current season KRT Ninja ZX-10RR machinery and I can only say this is a dream come true. Rest assured we will do our best to fulfil the ambitions of Ninja fans across the world in the coming season. We are truly honoured.”