MotoGP | Yamaha confirms Gardner in place of Rins at Sachsenring

As Motorsport.com reported on Tuesday, Alex Rins will be unable to take part in this weekend’s German MotoGP Grand Prix due to injury. His place will be taken by Australian Remy Gardner, who rides for Yamaha’s second team in Superbike, the GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team.

Rins underwent two surgeries on Monday, in the morning to stabilize a non-displaced double fracture of his right wrist and in the afternoon to remove one of the pins that were inserted into his right leg last year when he suffered a serious injury during the Italian Grand Prix. Yamaha hopes Rins will be fully recovered for the British Grand Prix, the first weekend in August, following the summer break from the championship.

“The operation went well and now I’m going home. Unfortunately I will miss the next Grand Prix, but I hope to be back very soon. Despite this obstacle, our motivation to continue working is stronger than ever,” commented Rins.

For this last race of the first part of the season, Yamaha did not want to field just one rider, Fabio Quartararo, even though they are not obliged by the rules to call a replacement. So, after calling one of their SBK riders, Gardner considered the invitation and finally accepted to return to the MotoGP paddock to ride an M1 for the first time in his life.

Gardner, Moto2 world champion in 2021, was promoted to the premier class in 2022 with the Tech3-KTM team, paired with Raul Fernandez. But the Australian did not adapt to the Austrian bike and at 24 years old he lost his place. Thus, he was forced to migrate to the production-derived paddock, where he remained for two seasons. This year Remy achieved a podium aboard the Yamaha R1 (Race 2 in Assen).

“I’m really excited about this challenge. I just want to say a huge thank you to Yamaha for trusting me this weekend. I’ll use it as a great learning experience. It’s a new bike and coming back to MotoGP for a race is always a great experience, so I’m really looking forward to enjoying this weekend and I’m really happy for this opportunity. Once again, a huge thank you to Yamaha,” said Gardner.

The Australian, who made his World Championship debut in 2014 with three Moto3 Grands Prix, completed a full year in that class before moving up to Moto2 in 2016. Three years later came his first podium and in 2020 his first win, in Portugal. In 2021 he took five wins, 12 podiums and three pole positions to become Moto2 World Champion in a remarkable battle with teammate Raúl Fernández.

Having contested 20 races in the 2022 MotoGP season with a best finish of 11th, Gardner will complete his 21st career start in the premier class this weekend.