The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team completed a hot opening day at MotorLand Aragón, Spain, for Round 6 of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship, with Remy Gardner concluding 16th overall, while Manzi finished 19th in the combined standings.
Remy Gardner made a decent start to the day, setting a best lap of 1’50.400 in the morning session to place 16th. In Free Practice 2, the Australian continued working on race consistency and setup refinement throughout the 45-minute session. Unfortunately, a late crash prevented him from improving further, leaving him 17th in the session with a 1’50.953 lap. Despite the incident, Gardner was unharmed and positive about the progress made.
On the other side of the garage, rookie Stefano Manzi followed a similar programme, prioritising race distance and tyre management over outright lap times. The Italian rider posted a 1’50.664 in FP1 to finish 19th before showing encouraging consistency during long runs in the afternoon’s scorching conditions. Manzi ended FP2 in 16th place with a best lap of 1’50.921.
The GYTR GRT Yamaha duo will return to the track tomorrow for Free Practice 3 at 09:40 local time, followed by the Tissot Superpole qualifying session at 11:15. Race 1 is scheduled to begin at 14:00.
FULL FREE PRACTICE RESULTS
Remy Gardner: P16 (1’50.400)
“It wasn’t an easy day, especially with the high temperatures here in Aragón. The overall position isn’t where we want to be, but I think we’ve done a decent job and we can stay confident heading into tomorrow. Some things we’ve test last week in Misano are working well, and I think there’s potential. Unfortunately, the late crash in FP2 stopped us from improving further, but thankfully it was only a minor one, I’m feeling okay and I’m confident we can have a good remainder of the weekend. We’ll continue working hard to find the best setup for race performance and focus on achieving a strong qualifying ahead of Race 1.”
Stefano Manzi: P19 (1’50.664)
“As expected, Friday was quite challenging, but we knew what to expect coming into Aragón. Managing the hot conditions will be important throughout the weekend, but I’m ready for the challenge. Overall, it was a positive day and we managed to improve from morning to afternoon, plus some of the things tested last week are giving us good feeling. We still have margin to make another step tomorrow, and everyone in the team is motivated to keep pushing. We’ll stay focused and continue working hard over the next two days.”
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