Gordon Ritchie | August 9, 2024
Two questions relating to the 2025 WorldSBK championship were answered recently with news that current Bonovo Action BMW rider Garrett Gerloff will ride for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing squad next year, and on the current official Ninja ZX-10RR machines. The same machines ridden in 2024 by race winner Alex Lowes and his teammate Axel Bassani.
Gerloff’s future in WorldSBK was recently put in doubt when his current squad decided to pull out in 2025, removing two official-level BMW machines from the paddock.
With Kawasaki’s current effort soon effectively morphing into a joint Bimota and Kawasaki effort – Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team – it is all change in many ways for 2025.
Gerloff will be in green alongside Manuel Puccetti (right) in 2025
But what would happen to the venerable but still win-capable Ninjas run by KRT this season? The same basic bike that has delivered seven World Championships in the past and two race wins to Lowes this season?
The answer is that the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team, the same outfit that gave Toprak Razgatlioglu his first WorldSBK race wins and podiums when he was a privateer, will run the current KRT machines in 2025. They already have a KRT-supplied Ninja for their current rider, Tito Rabat, but this seems something more.
With Gerloff becoming available and a guarantee of recent factory bikes, both Gerloff and Manuel Puccetti’s long-standing Kawasaki team have found a way to remain at the sharp end of WorldSBK.
Given that Kawasaki are servicing the needs of three KRT spec bikes in 2024, having enough spares, parts and know-how for Gerloff and Puccetti to race competitively in 2025 seems more than possible.
With Gerloff still a contracted rider for another team and manufacturer, he has not given comment about 2025 at this point.
For Kawasaki, Mr Shigemi Tanaka, General Manager, Marketing & Sales Division, Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. said, “Manuel (Puccetti) has a unique combination of experience, achievement and enthusiasm and his record of success is testament to his tenacity and professionalism. Already the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team are working closely with KRT in the current WorldSBK Championship, so the channels of communication on WorldSBK issues are firmly established and productive. For Kawasaki, it’s important to maintain a presence in WorldSBK with our Ninja brand. With our support for Kawasaki Puccetti and via the transfer on loan of our factory Ninja ZX-10RR race assets – we can publicly show our appreciation of Kawasaki Puccetti Racing and be confident that the Ninja brand will continue to play a significant role in the WorldSBK paddock.”
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