“Big goals” in WorldSBK 2026 for fourth-year Remy Gardner

Entering his fourth season in WorldSBK, Remy Gardner says he has “big goals” for the 2026 season, which will see him alongside a new teammate for the first time in three years.

Having moved across from MotoGP in 2023, Gardner’s time in World Superbike has perhaps not gone as expected so far, with the Australian taking podium finishes, but no victories, and with large gaps between those rostrums.

For example, Gardner was on the podium once in 2025 – in Race 2 at Assen, where Andrea Locatelli took Yamaha’s only win since the end of 2023. Before that, he hadn’t stood on the rostrum since Assen Race 2 in 2024, which is his only other podium in the class.

The 2021 Moto2 World Champion remains with GRT Yamaha next year, for his fourth season with the Italian squad.

“[The] Main goal is improve on what we did this year and try to get the best championship result possible,” Remy Gardner told WorldSBK.com at EICMA.

“We’ve got big goals for next year, I’m excited, and hopefully we can make that happen.”

Although Gardner remains in the same team next year, he will have a new teammate for the first time since 2023, having been with Dominique Aegerter until the end of 2025.

The Swiss has headed back to Supersport – where he won two titles in 2021 and 2022 – with Kawasaki for 2026, leaving a space to be filled by Stefano Manzi, who won this year’s WorldSSP title.

Manzi was third-fastest on his first official day of test in the post-race test at Jerez in October, and the Italian’s speed is something Gardner hopes he can take advantage of himself in 2026.

“Stefano [Manzi] is obviously an extremely fast rider because he’s just won the championship,” Gardner said.

“It will be good to have also a different point of view on things with the bike to try to develop the bike in the future. 

“Having a fast teammate is always good to keep you on your toes, so hopefully he can adapt fast and get up to speed fast.”

“Lots of parts to test”

This week (26–27 November, specifically) Yamaha will head back to Jerez for its final test of 2025 before preseason testing resumes at the end of January.

Gardner had only limited mileage in the October test as he was still feeling the effects of his crash with Jonathan Rea in the Superpole Race at the season-closing Spanish Round only a couple of days before, so the upcoming return to Andalucia is set to be an important one for the Australian.

“I didn’t do too many laps in the [October] test – my shoulder was really sore from the incident [with Jonathan Rea] from Sunday [Superpole Race at the Spanish Round],” Gardner said.

“I said ‘Let’s call it, we’ll focus on the second test at the end of November.’ 

“So, we’ve got lots of parts to test in November, a few things that we didn’t get to try in the Tuesday after the race. 

“It’s going to be a very busy three days, because I think the last day we’re going to try the Michelin tyres, also.”

If there’s something Gardner wants to work on for 2026, it’s front tyre life, although he feels he was able to improve his qualifying potential during 2025 – highlighted by his fifth-place starting position in Jerez.

“Definitely improved in qualifying,” he said, “now we’re having really strong qualifyings – more than usual. So, this is a good point. 

“Now we’re having problems with the front tyre life during the race, so that’s something that we need to work on for next year.”