Remy Gardner
Remy Gardner claims he was told by KTM that he has lost his MotoGP ride because he was “not professional enough”.
The 2021 Moto2 champion faces an uncertain future after it was confirmed that he is out of the Tech3 team at the end of the current season.
Gardner has just nine points to his name in 13 races so far this season and while that leaves him 23rd in the championship, the haul is still more than the five points of team-mate and fellow rookie Raul Fernandez.
While the latter is highly-rated after pushing the Australian all the way in his single season in the intermediate class, he told KTM he would not be sticking around months ago.
As it turns out, neither half of the duo which dominated Moto2 as team-mates last year at Red Bull KTM Ajo will be part of the Austrian group’s MotoGP programme in 2023.
Speaking at Misano ahead of this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix, Gardner said his ousting was, ostensibly, not performance-related.
“They said I was not professional enough,” he stated.
“That was it.”
The 24-year-old claims no examples of his alleged lack of professionalism were given, although there has clearly been tension between his camp, including personal manager Paco Sanchez, and management at both KTM and Tech3.
After qualifying 22nd for May’s French Grand Prix, Gardner said to reporters, “If a f###ing tornado wants to rip up the track and we go home early, that’ll be good.”
Days later, Tech3 Team Manager Herve Poncharal would remark on an official MotoGP podcast, “If there [are] no bad seats [in the championship] please have a word with my riders.”
Still, that quip from Poncharal, who has publicly supported his rookies for the most part, was positively mild compared to the rant which KTM Motorsports Director Pit Beirer went on just after the French GP.
Speaking to Germany’s Speedweek.com, Beirer stated, “Paco Sanchez never misses an opportunity to insult us,” and would declare in the same interview that rider managers are “the biggest plague that has befallen the paddock in recent years, except for corona[virus].”
Despite a lacklustre start to his first season in the premier class, Gardner was offered a contract renewal at some point, according to Beirer.
Weeks ago, he still looked reasonably likely to get a new deal, given both Fernandez and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing incumbent Miguel Oliveira looked likely to switch to Aprilia RNF, moves which have since been confirmed.
While Jack Miller had been recruited for the factory team, and Pol Espargaro was coming back to the fold from Repsol Honda to take up one of the seats at Tech3, which becomes GasGas Factory Racing next year, there was still seemingly room for the Sydney native.
Furthermore, Gardner claims now regarding the spat between KTM chiefs and his manager, “That wasn’t beef with me, that was beef with Paco.”
Still, his position started to look somewhat shaky when, at the British Grand Prix, Beirer alluded to the possibility of promoting Augusto Fernandez from Moto2 to Tech3’s MotoGP squad.
At the following round in Austria, having just confirmed Espargaro’s signing, Beirer dropped the bombshell that efforts were being made to keep Oliveira in KTM family at GasGas.
A day later, Gardner was told he was out, news which he “Wasn’t expecting it, to be honest.”
What has transpired has left the six-time Moto2 race winner ‘heartbroken’.
“My intention was to stay here and give my best and honestly, they’ve broken my heart,” he remarked.
“I felt like maybe there’s not an appreciation for the [Moto2] world championship I brought them as well.
“I was just giving my best all the time and I guess it wasn’t good enough.
“Anyway, I’m just going to continue giving my 100 percent, but for nobody except myself and obviously the people who work with me.”
Practice at Misano starts on Friday evening (AEST).