CONSISTENCY WAS KEY FOR MOTO 2 TITLE

In a season-long tussle with KTM Ajo teammate Raul Fernandez, it was Australia’s Remy Gardner who prevailed to win the Moto 2 World Championship and he believes consistency was the key.

Gardner was pushed all season long by rookie Fernandez, but he prevailed by finishing 10th in the final race of the championship.

The Aussie praised his Spanish teammate and expressed that in the end it was consistency that won him the title.

“It’s definitely been an intense season,” Gardner said in the post-race champion press conference.

“Raul did an amazing job this year as a rookie, he really put it to me and really made me work for it.

“It’s been such an amazing season but intense for sure, especially the last quarter has been really intense.

“Raul has been really fast and I’ve made a few mistakes as he has as well, but consistency was key in the end, and the days that I just couldn’t win or that Raul won, it was about finishing and getting whatever points I could.

“Ultimately that’s really what got us across the line.”

Throughout the season Gardner took five race wins, however it was the total of 12 podiums which ultimately led to him taking the title.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest, you know? There’s been so many hard years,” he said.

“It’s (been) such an amazing season, so many podiums, so many great races, five wins, it’s just incredible.

“It’s just been an incredible season. Incredible. So many podiums and Parc Ferme’s and so many great moments with the team.

“There were other times where I’d finished second and I’d be like that was a bad day but you have to enjoy every moment.”

Gardner admitted that several seasons ago, he thought he was at the end of his career, however the last two years it has gone his way.

“Decent success this year and even last year, I really changed my chip last year and everything started to go a bit better, even though I didn’t have the most podiums in the world,” he said.

“I just managed to get my mind under control and everything was falling into place, I was just trying to keep positive about everything.

“From 2015 to 2020, even 2019, they were really tough years for me.

“There were points in my career where I honestly believed that was it, there was no more, and this was the end of the road, especially after the injury. Fighting through that was incredibly difficult.”

Gardner will step to MotoGP together with Fernandez and will share the Tech 3 KTM garage.

Both riders will test MotoGP machinery later this week in the post-season Jerez test.

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