The renewal of the 25-year-old American rider’s contract rules out the possibility of Gerloff signing with Yamaha’s satellite structure in MotoGP, one of the destinations that had sounded the most for him after the earthquake caused by Maverick Viñales.
On Monday after the Dutch Grand Prix, the last round of the MotoGP World Championship before the summer break, the Spaniard jointly with Yamaha announced the termination of the contract that unites both parties at the end of this season, putting an end to the relationship that, theoretically, , was to join them until the end of 2022.
Gerloff, who already replaced Franco Morbidelli in Assen –he finished 17th– after the knee injury suffered by the Italian, is currently in sixth position in the 2021 WorldSBK general points table after having been able to climb the podium, and is 90 points behind Toprak Razgatlioglu, his Yamaha teammate and current leader of the standings.
That maneuver will surely cause a chain reaction that will most likely lead to Franco Morbidelli inheriting the Viñales M1 in the Monster Yamaha team garage. In turn, the promotion of the #21 will mean that the Sepang Racing Team (SRT) will be left without either of the two drivers in view of the coming year, since it seems very unlikely that Valentino Rossi will continue there.
Thus, and waiting to see what happens with Morbidelli, everything seems to indicate that those responsible for SRT should look at Moto2.
Gerloff’s announcement comes a couple of weeks after he confirmed that Razgatlioglu will also stay in WorldSBK, at least until 2023.
“I am delighted to have signed this contract with Yamaha, to continue here next year. I’ve had a great time in Europe for the last year and a half, and I’m very happy with my progress and that of the R1,” Gerloff said in the statement.
