Czech WorldSBK Friday Practice Results: Garrett Gerloff beats Nicolo Bulega in FP2

Garrett Gerloff lit up the skies over Autodrom Most with the fastest lap in Friday’s Practice for the 2026 Czech WorldSBK beating championship leader Nicolo Bulega.

Riding the Kawasaki ZX‑10RR, Gerloff delivered a late 1:30.791 in Free Practice 2, edging out Bulega by just 0.066 seconds and sending a clear message that Kawasaki can challenge Ducati’s seeming stranglehold on the year so far.

The morning session at Most began with cool asphalt and a light breeze, conditions that typically reward machines with strong mid‑range drive and precise electronics rather than outright top‑end power.

Nicolo Bulega astride the Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4R, immediately set about stamping his authority on FP1 with a 1:31.130 benchmark as Ducati locked out the top three spots courtesy of Sam Lowes and Iker Lecuona.

Garrett Gerloff, meanwhile, had a more turbulent start to Friday after an early‑session crash at Turn 1, but the American recovered to finish ninth, 0.880s off Bulega.

The afternoon session saw Gerloff return with a fresh tyre allocation and a more refined chassis setup, set out to push the Kawasaki to the limit from the first timed lap. Each lap shaved tenths, edging him closer to the dominant Ducatis with Bulega leading provisional times.

However, with just 20 minutes remaining Bulega lost the front of his Ducati exiting Turn 1 and crashed into the gravel, a rare error that cost him the day’s outright bragging rights.

Gerloff ultimately laid down a 1:30.791 in the final fifteen minutes of FP2 that immediately moved him ahead of Bulega by 0.066 seconds. Sam Lowes and Iker Lecuona finished third and fourth, as Alex Lowes made it two Kawasakis in the top five.

Danilo Petrucci showed strong form on his return from injury, finishing sixth fastest for BMW.

Full 2026 Czech WorldSBK Friday Practice Results – FP2