News

Gardner on his fightback from last to seventh: "It was a good race and a positive day!"

Monday, 6 March 2023 08:02 GMT

The rookie missed Saturday’s action through illness in Indonesia but took to the track on Sunday and recorded his best finish to date

After fighting illness throughout the Motul Indonesian Round, Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was able to claim his best MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship result to date with seventh place in Race 2 at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit. Gardner was forced to miss Saturday’s action through illness but responded in style throughout Sunday’s two races to fight his way through the field.

As Gardner missed out on Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session, he was forced to start the Tissot Superpole Race from the back of the grid. As he was unable to finish in the top nine in the shortened eight-lap fight, he once again started from last place in Race 2 which was red-flagged and restarted, with the restarted race shortened to 14 laps.

The grid for the restarted race was based on each rider’s last completed timing point and the Australian rookie was 11th at this point, meaning he gained positions for the second start and he used this to his full advantage. He climbed up the field once again to finish in seventh place, recording his second top-ten finish in his short WorldSBK career but also his best result to date with seventh place.

Looking back on Sunday, Gardner said: “I don’t feel amazing, to be honest. After yesterday, I thought today’s not even possible. We pushed hard to come back. We tried in Warm Up and it was okay. The Superpole Race wasn’t so bad. Finally, we made Race 2. Unfortunately, we had to start from last but, in the end, we had a good race and managed to come back to seventh. It wasn’t bad. Honestly, it was a good race and a positive day. It was really difficult. I’m glad it’s over and I went to go rest at home now!”

With a gap in the calendar to come, Gardner also elaborated on what his plans were for the break. He said: “We have testing at Montmelo, a two-day test and there are a few things there we want to try that’ll be important. The other days, I’ll be training and on the other days I’ll be working a little bit on my cars.”

Watch more WorldSBK action throughout 2023 using the WorldSBK VideoPass!