Impressively strong Friday at Portimao for Remy despite heavy rain

Tech3 KTM Factory Racing kicked off its European campaign today at the rainy Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, where the Grande Prémio Tissot de Portugal is being held. Following an intense rain this morning, the MotoGP class kicked off its weekend on a wet track, while the afternoon session saw a heavy rain join the party.

Eager to comeback racing in Europe, Australian Remy Gardner was looking forward to trying the Portuguese rollercoaster on his KTM RC16. Often comfortable in rainy conditions, the rookie seemed to feel confident on the track very quickly this morning and finished the morning session in P13, with a best lap time of 1’51.820 on his fifteenth lap, only 0.172 seconds from the Top 10.

Although the goal was to improve in the afternoon, the weather did not agree and it rained heavily when Free Practice 2 came around, meaning that the number 87 was unable to improve his lap time. He still managed to ride a good amount of laps (33 in total today) and gained a lot of experience in the wet. Remy finishes the day in P15 overall, and will look to continue his progress tomorrow.

Remy Gardner

“Today was a good day and I gained a lot of experience in the wet. I started to understand the tyres a bit more, and enjoyed riding the bike a lot as well. I expected more improvement for FP2, but it ended up raining a lot, so we did not manage to do so. It was a fairly good day anyway, and I look forward to tomorrow, which will be drier hopefully.”