Gardner questioned whether he could ride due to 'really sore wrist'

Tech 3 KTM rider Remy Gardner finishes the Mandalika MotoGP test in 21st after completing just 42 laps. 

The Australian, who suffered a fractured wrist during a motocross accident last month, was close to missing out on the final day altogether due to the pain being ‘really sore’.

"Well, there was a big question whether I could even ride at the beginning (today)," added Gardner. "So in that sense, to complete plenty of laps was a success. 

"For sure, we came here thinking it could be a bit better but my wrist is still really sore. Even after the first day we couldn’t really find a good direction with the bike here. 

"I was struggling a little bit more to be honest. In the end I managed to do my laps which was the most important thing at the moment and my wrist held on. Next few weeks will be good to rest."

While the current Moto2 world champion has been consistently out-paced by team-mate Raul Fernandez during testing, Gardner believes a lot more potential is yet to come. 

The 23 year-old highlighted ‘rhythm on the front end’ as his main area to address going into next month’s season opener in Qatar.

"Probably finding the rhythm on the front end. I’m still leaving a bit of margin at the moment because I don’t want to be riding around on the ground, picking it up and trying to save it," said Gardner. "So yeah, probably the front end and just really riding on the limit." 

Despite Gardner lacking full fitness and therefore not being able to extract the most from his RC16 machine thus far, the Tech 3 rider is not worried about the upcoming season: "I’m not worried about it. There’s not really any expectations at the moment. 

"I’m just taking it as it comes and trying to learn. For sure we’re going to learn a lot and it will be good to get racing underway."