Only 16 riders will take part in Sunday’s two WorldSBK races after Garrett Gerloff and Eugene Laverty were both diagnosed with concussion in separate on-track incidents at Phillip Island during warm-up.
Gerloff, making his WorldSBK debut this weekend for the GRT Junior Yamaha team, tangled with Pedercini Kawasaki’s Sandro Cortese during the short morning session prompting a visit to the medical centre.
Diagnosed with concussion, he has since been airlifted to hospital for local checks on his condition. The American, a front-runner in the MotoAmerica series, finished 14th in his maiden WorldSBK race having run as high as seventh early on.
BMW’s Laverty, meanwhile, suffered an accident on his own during the session and was also taken to the medical centre, with a diagnosis of concussion ruling him out of action for the remainder of the day.
Together with Leon Camier’s withdrawal from the event through injury, the WorldSBK grid has shrunk from 19 to 16 coming into Sunday’s Superpole Race and Race 2.
