Gardner Recovers to Top Ten Finish in Cremona Race 1
Remy Gardner took home valuable points in the first race at the new Cremona Circuit, Italy, in the ninth round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship. Marvin Fritz enjoyed a productive Race 1 to finish 17th.
In the morning, the GYTR GRT Yamaha riders put the final free practice session to good use, gearing up for Tissot Superpole. In the 15-minute qualifier session, Gardner and Fritz gave their best to secure a good starting grid position. Unfortunately, Gardner couldn’t climb higher than 16th (1’29.310), with his German teammate 20th on a 1’30.195.
As Race 1 got underway at 14:00 local time, Gardner enjoyed a good getaway from 18th on the grid, due to Friday’s penalty, to gain positions in the opening lap. The #87 rider then showed consistent speed, closing on ninth position with six laps to go. Unfortunately, a red flag stoppage denied him the chance to progress further, but still recovered to a top 10 finish. In the meantime, Fritz was building confidence each lap, improving his lap time until the end of the race, eventually crossing the line in 17th.
SUPERPOLE RESULTS
RACE 1 RESULTS
Remy Gardner – Superpole: P16 / Race 1: P10
“It’s been a tough day and the Superpole session was one of our most challenging to date. Anyway, we managed to bounce back a little bit in Race 1 and we took home decent points. I was also able to overtake Rinaldi for ninth, but unfortunately the red flag came out before I had completed the sector, so at the end we’ve finished tenth. We’ll now check the data and see where we can improve tomorrow.”
Marvin Fritz – Superpole: P20 / Race 1: P17
“It wasn’t an easy race, but I enjoyed it. I still have to adapt a little bit as I am not feeling completely comfortable on the bike, but we keep building confidence and improving each session. We’re losing a lot of time in the second and third sector, while we’re doing good in the first and fourth, we’ll try to compare our data with the other Yamahas to see where we can make a step further.”
