Yamaha’s Remy Gardner gears up for his WorldSBK debut on home soil this weekend as Phillip Island hosts 2023’s opening round.
The Australian switches from a season in MotoGP - following his Moto2 title-winning year - to yet another new adventure after joining the GYTR GRT Yamaha team in the FIM Superbike World Championship.
“It’s been a good pre-season and I enjoyed riding the bike,” Gardner said of the YZF-R1 after completing final testing ninth and just two tenths shy of teammate Dominique Aegerter and Pata Yamaha front-man Toprak Razgatlioglu. “The bike turns pretty well at the front and it’s a good braking bike. I think it’s missing a little bit of traction and a bit of engine compared to the other manufacturers but anyway it’s a good bike, I’m really happy with it. There’s still a lot more potential I can get out of it.”
A strong start across preseason testing has found Gardner consistently on the pace inside the top ten, but nothing beats the upcoming thrill of his rookie race in front of home support. Especially after the local showed the tourists how it was done down under with a spot of surfing on his day off.
“There’s no better place to start than at home so I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Going off what we did in the test, I think being in the top six or seven can be possible,” the 24-year-old said of his prospects for the inaugural round. “I think we’d have to be happy with that.
“This week’s going to be a big learning curve for me,” he said looking ahead to two 22 lap features and Sunday morning’s 10 lap sprint. “It’s another thing that I need to get used to and obviously learn. Three races is definitely something very new and I’m just taking it step by step and learning what we need to improve. Like I said, we’ve had a really good offseason, it’s given me time to get to know everyone in the team and I couldn’t be happier to be honest!”