GRT Yamaha go with Gerloff and Nozane for 2021 WSBK

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team have announced their rider lineup for 2021 – Garrett Gerloff and Kohta Nozane.

After making his WSBK debut this year, Gerloff retains his seat with the satellite Yamaha team for 2021, but Nozane’s inclusion comes at the expense of Federico Caricasulo, who joined GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team this year alongside Gerloff after four seasons in World Supersport (WSS). This year’s pairing replaced the 2019 rider lineup of Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese.

While Caricasulo was successful in World Supersport, achieving six race wins and finishing runner-up in last year’s WSS Championship, the Italian has so far been unable to replicate that success in WSBK, with a best race result to date of ninth, achieved at Portimao and Aragon.

Gerloff has performed only done marginally better, but the 25-year-old American has been a more consistent points scorer, with his highlight to date being a third place at Race 2 in Catalunya.

“I’m just super excited to be staying with the GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team for the 2021 season,” Gerloff said of the new deal, which was announced on 12 October.

“This year has been incredible; the people I work with on the team are exceptional, really positive and awesome people, so to be able to continue with them is fantastic. It’s going to be nice to hopefully have more of a normal year and to have some consistency in the team will be great for me.

“I’m really excited to be getting the new Yamaha R1 as well. Hopefully it will give us even more performance to take the fight to the current frontrunners in the championship. I think that we can do some great things next year and I’m more focused and determined than ever.”

Nozane comes to WSBK after a long period of success in Japanese domestic racing, including the MFJ All-Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship, with an unblemished win record at time of writing in this year’s championship. The 24-year-old from Chiba has also contested the FIM Endurance World Championship with YART Yamaha EWC and was a wildcard entrant for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 at the 2017 Japanese MotoGP round at Motegi.

“I’ve felt WorldSBK would be the best place for me to keep growing as a rider, so I’m really happy to get a chance to race on the world stage again and I can’t thank Yamaha enough for the opportunity,” Nozane said.

“I’ll be up against the best riders in the world on different tyres to what I use now, and almost all the circuits will be totally new to me, so I know it’s going to be a massive challenge. But I take pride in being one of Japan’s top riders, so to live up to the expectations of Japanese fans as well as gain the respect of race fans around the world, I want to make my mark right from the start, so I’ll be doing all I can to be ready to race.”