OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
“ I spoke with Kenan . He said , ‘ You will go into STK1000 ’ I said , ‘ OK ,’ but inside I said ‘ not OK !’ Because my dream was to be teammates with Kenan and the WorldSSP champion ”
“ I feel like I could do it now ,” he said . “ It depends . For sure , there ’ s more that I can learn and there ’ s more that I could improve here , more experience is always good but at some point you just kind of have to jump into the fire if you have the opportunity for something like that . For sure , I can learn more and I need to learn more , improve more and polish my riding .” And of course Gerloff understands that doing well in such a competitive series as WorldSBK is still a big deal in its own right . “ I ’ m happy to be here and the championship is really strong ,” These two big name recent WorldSBK ‘ stayers ’ just happen to be Yamaha riders , but current KRT factory rider Alex Lowes very recently re-signed with KHI ’ s on a multi-year deal . Another indicator that the established WorldSBK riders are determined to continue to make their mark where they are . Andrea Dosoli , Yamaha Europe ’ s Racing Manager , stated why he was so keen to get his 2022 riders signed up this early . “ We are really happy and pleased that we could renew with the two most talented young riders in the championship ,” said Dosoli at Assen . “ Toprak - we know what he ’ s capable of doing , and Garrett has a very high potential and there is more to come from him . It ’ s an important achievement for Yamaha , but it ’ s an important achievement also for the championship itself , showing the status of the championship . It ’ s nice to see when two young , talented riders like them ( they are 24 and 25 respectively ) have chosen to stay in WorldSBK even if they ’ ve been approached by some MotoGP™ teams . So , this gives a lot of motivation to everybody and a lot of credibility to the championship . The championship is able to develop riders . We as Yamaha have been investing a lot with this in mind . So , it is a platform that is not only capable of promoting the product but a platform that can offer a clear ‘ step-up ’ programme . Also , it ’ s important for us because it clearly shows the worldwide commitment of Yamaha in motorsport . Garrett coming from MotoAmerica is a clear message .” For Yamaha Europe President Eric De Seynes , a VIP arrival at Assen , WorldSBK is as much where it is at for Yamaha ’ s product-based and rider development ambitions as MotoGP™ is for their demonstrations of pure technical prowess . “ The fact that we have signed these riders so early in the season is a demonstration that we are fully committed in our WorldSBK programme ,” said de Seynes . “ More than that , the way we continue to build up the pyramid of the sport , from the R3 Cup , WorldSSP300 , WorldSSP , and WorldSBK . What we have tried to rebuild when we came back to WorldSBK some years ago was really to respect this championship , not being a parallel championship to the MotoGP™ , Moto2 structure . But really to be a full , correct , sports championship that we have to respect .” A lot of re-signing action with Yamaha and now Kawasaki this year already , but last year it was Ducati ’ s turn to invest heavily in young talent , promoting Michael Ruben Rinaldi to the Aruba Racing Ducati team at 25 , and he was very much a product of the WorldSBK paddock . Across all the current competing WorldSBK manufacturers - BMW , Ducati , Honda , Kawasaki and Yamaha - this is a championship worth being in with a strong commitment . WorldSBK clearly has a high degree of staying power for its riders and manufacturers , even if MotoGP™ is and will no doubt remain the biggest global racing class of all
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