Remy Gardner hits Jonathan Rea’s bike; ‘shame we couldn’t convert our potential’

Remy Gardner had speed to burn at his home WorldSBK round but was unable to challenge for the results he felt his potential deserved.

Gardner was sixth in the Supepole Race but felt as though a podium was there for the taking.

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However, it was Race 2 that left the Australian frustrated after clipping Jonathan Rea’s bike early on.

Rea crashed out of the race but in an attempt to avoid his fellow Yamaha rider, Gardner made contact with Rea’s bike which gave him a flat tyre.

Gardner slapped the tank of his R1 in frustration before starting the restarted race at the back, something he didn’t deem fair.

“Well, this weekend wasn’t meant to be,” said Gardner. “We had some good fights in the sprint race and the pace was there, unfortunately we couldn’t finish inside the top three even though we had great speed.

“I felt we could make another try in Race 2, but I couldn’t avoid Jonathan’s (Rea) bike and I ended up having some damage. 

“The red flag gave us another chance, but I had to restart from the back of the grid. I think this is not good, but rules are rules.

“Although the guys did a fantastic job on making me able to go out again, the bike was not completely okay but we were still able to score valuable points.

“It’s a bit of a shame that we couldn’t convert our race potential, but we have to take the positives from the weekend; speed was there and we did a great job, so we’ll head down to Barcelona for the second round of the season.”

While Gardner moved up from last to 12th position in Race 2, Dominique Agerter was tenth aboard the other GRT Yamaha machine.

It was a solid weekend for Aegerter who scored points in all three races.

“Not the easiest Sunday but we still come back home with points and good data,” began Aegerter. “In the sprint race I was fighting with the front group and our race pace was decent overall.

“Then, in Race 2, I had to restart from 12th after the red flag and to fight in the middle of the pack was never easy, ending up to a ninth position which later became a tenth place because of the penalty.

“Anyway, I’ll now have some weeks to recover and have some training, I’m confident we can enjoy a good season all together.”