Remy Gardner secures WSBK ride for 2023

After eight full seasons in grand prix racing, including winning the Moto2 World Championship in 2021 and riding in MotoGP this year with Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing, Remy Gardner will move to the Superbike World Championship in 2023.

When he joins the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team next year, Gardner will be the first full-time Aussie rider in World Superbikes (WSBK) since 2016, with his arrival sure to ignite hopes of the same sort of success achieved by Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser and Chris Vermeulen in the past.

The 24-year-old son of former 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner will replace Garrett Gerloff at GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK. After three seasons with the Yamaha satellite team, Gerloff is moving to Bonovo action BMW Racing next year.

While Gardner has no previous experience in WSBK or on the Yamaha YZF-R1, Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Manager, Andrea Dosoli, declared the young Aussie to be an exciting young talent who’s had an impressive career in grand prix racing when he announced the deal on 15 September.

“We are obviously delighted to have a rider on board who’s not only shown great progression but has experience at the top level of motorcycle racing.

“We believe that he is the perfect fit for Yamaha’s WorldSBK programme and are keen to see what he can do on one of our R1 WorldSBK machines.

“We’d also like to thank Garrett Gerloff for his commitment to Yamaha these past three seasons and we wish him all the best for the future,” Dosoli ends.

Gardner’s hopes of remaining in MotoGP beyond his debut year were dashed by a series of circumstances, including Suzuki withdrawing from the premier class, major rider movements amongst other teams and even entire team changes, like Tech3 KTM Factory Racing being rebranded as GasGas Factory Racing for next year.

At time of writing (prior to the Australian GP), Gardner had finished in the points in four races in MotoGP this year, with a best finish of eleventh at the Catalunya Grand Prix.

Gardner made his grand prix debut with a handful of Moto3 starts in 2014, then spent a full year in that class before starting a six-year stint in Moto2 in 2016, initially riding for Tasca Racing Scuderia before moving to Tech 3 Racing for two seasons. A switch to the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team in 2019 saw Gardner achieve his first podium finish in the category, followed by his first race win with the same team a year later.

In 2021, Gardner joined Red Bull KTM Ajo and was successful immediately, taking four podium finishes in the first five Moto2 races, then three wins in succession. Two more wins and three more podiums saw him wrap up the 2021 Moto2 World Championship at the season’s final round, earning him an elevation to MotoGP with Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing.