Gardner and Fernandez reflect on first taste of a MotoGP bike

Moto2 riders get a taste of MotoGP

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 stars Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez completed their first laps on the RC16 MotoGP bike around Misano overnight.

Remy Gardner’s #87 on the front of the RC16

The 2022 MotoGP recruits and current Moto2 championship pace-setters Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez to have their first taste of the KTM RC16.

Gardner suffered a slow speed tumble after running off track but still accumulated more than 50 laps while Fernandez’s best lap-time was just 2.5 seconds away from the quickest of the day after a similar amount of track mileage.

Remy Gardner – KTM GP Academy

“Incredible, honestly. I mean I expected power and strong braking but until you really try it then you don’t know. I was going through gears like there was no tomorrow. Even in the last laps it was mind-blowing how fast it was. I had a great day and a lot of fun. It was good to get a feel for the bike and to try and understand it. It was a nice little treat for us by KTM. I cannot wait to start for real and I’m looking forward to push the bike next time, trying to find those limits.”

Raul Fernandez – KTM GP Academy

“I’m really happy and thanks to KTM for giving me an opportunity. It was an amazing day and incredible to ride that bike. At the beginning there were many new things to think about, like the carbon brakes, but after a while it felt quite easy and I was enjoying it like a kid. The power was…wow. I want to start the work for next season as soon as possible even though all my focus is on Moto2 right now. In Valencia we’ll start again.”

Mike Leitner – Red Bull KTM Race Manager

“Raul and Remy took the Tech3 RC16s for some laps and it is always super-nice to see when a rider has his first experience with a MotoGP bike; their faces when they came back in said a lot! They have never had that power before. The target of the test for them was just to get that taste of MotoGP.”