MotoGP | Gardner to race in Japan as Yamaha wildcard

Remy Gardner has been racing for the Yamaha GRT team, the Iwata manufacturer’s second team in the World Superbike Championship, since last year. Despite not having a direct connection to the MotoGP team, the Australian received an offer in early July to ride the German Grand Prix, where test rider Cal Crutchlow was scheduled to ride. An injury prevented the Brit from racing at the Sachsenring and, as an emergency measure, Yamaha called on the former Moto2 champion.

Gardner was highly regarded in Yamaha’s MotoGP structure and received a second invitation to Silverstone. So, the Sydney rider also took part in the race at Silverstone, after the summer break. Crutchlow was also scheduled to be present that weekend, but Remy climbed back on his bike, improving his position compared to Germany.

The Japanese Grand Prix, which will be held on October 6, will be the third and final one in which Yamaha will be able to present a wild card this year. At Misano, where the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is ​​taking place, the presence of Andrea Dovizioso in the garage of the House of the three tuning forks has given rise to speculation that he could be the chosen one to climb aboard the M1 at Motegi.

“No, it will be Remy Gardner,” the team’s sporting director confirmed to Motorsport.com, ruling out the possibility of Dovizioso, whose collaboration with Yamaha will be limited to replacing Crutchlow in some tests.

A marathon of five consecutive weeks without rest

For Gardner, accepting Yamaha’s wild card at Motegi means facing a marathon of five consecutive race weekends: the World Superbike championship, where he is a regular, will have four races in five weeks, starting this weekend in Cremona. It will then continue with the Aragon round (September 27-29). He will then fly to Japan for MotoGP (October 4-6) before returning to Europe for the Estoril round (October 11-13) and finally the final race of the year in Jerez (October 18-20).