Remy Gardner felt ‘discarded as a rider with how MotoGP career went’

Remy Gardner stood on the podium for the first time in his WorldSBK career, after claiming P3 during Race 2 at Assen.

Last on the podium in Moto2 during his title-winning season, Gardner’s wait has been over two years following a difficult spell in MotoGP.

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Despite glimpses of potential in 2023 as a WorldSBk rookie, fighting for a podium never appeared to be close.

However, Gardner’s form in 2024 has been very impressive and the Australian took a well deserved podium after missing out on P3 at the final corner of the Superpole Race, just hours prior to Race 2 in Assen.

“It has been really hard, especially with how my MotoGP career went,” said Gardner following his maiden WorldSBK podium.

“It was not good, and I just felt like I was a little discarded as a rider. It has been hard, but I’ve always believed in myself, to be honest, and I’ve kept fighting and pushing because there was one point where I could maybe retire and do something else.

“But I kept pushing, believing in myself, and kept working as hard as ever.

“This third position definitely feels like a win to me, that is why it was so frustrating to miss the podium so many times.

“I think I’ve put in so much work, but finally, good things come to the people who work hard, and it finally pays off.”

Still waiting for his first podium of 2024, Dominique Aegerter had impressive late race pace but gave himself too much to do following a P19 finish in Superpole.

Aegerter said: “This was not a bad way to finish the weekend, even though we were expecting more, considering the pace we showed in the final feature race of the weekend.

“The target for the sprint race was the top nine, but it was complicated to get it starting from so far back and we recovered just a couple of places. 

“Then, in Race 2, I had a decent start and I could make my way through the field joining the group fighting for the podium. 

“I had some good battles and the pace was good; to finish just five seconds off the victory starting from 19th is a good sign, now let’s head to the next round and we’ll have some good test sessions before the next races.”