Gardner compares MotoGP and WorldSBK
It’s a question which, depending on who you ask, has a number of different answers, but having competed in both championships, GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK rider Remy Gardner is a man who knows.
In terms of the ultimate lap time, the gap isn’t huge. A relatively fair example of that is Qualifying (Superpole in WorldSBK talk) for both series at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this year. With near to identical air and track temperatures, the gap between pole position for MotoGP and pole position in WorldSBK was just 1.2 seconds. The speed difference down the straight was roughly 30 km/h.
But it isn’t quite that simple. While a production-derived WorldSBK machine can get close(ish) to a prototype Grand Prix machine over a single fast lap, racing a Superbike over race distance is a completely different experience from doing the same on a MotoGP bike.
Someone who knows all about the differences between a Superbike and a MotoGP prototype is GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK rider, Remy Gardner, who joined the Superbike grid from MotoGP for the 2023 season.
“The main difference in the actual characteristics of the bikes is the power and the brakes,” explains Gardner, who until he stepped on his R1 ahead of his rookie year in WorldSBK last year, had always raced prototype Grand Prix machines.
“MotoGP bikes have a good chunk more power, we’re talking maybe 40-50 hp, and this is very noticeable, and then in MotoGP, you run carbon brakes, which are very different in both feeling and power to the more traditional brakes we run on the Superbike. But if being completely honest, the biggest difference to get your head around as a rider is probably the tyres.
“It’s a completely different philosophy. The Pirelli [used in WorldSBK] is a tyre which has really good grip in the beginning, but it deteriorates very quickly, so you basically have to nurse it to the end, which is an art in itself.
“In MotoGP, honestly, you could be pretty much flat out for most of a race and still be pretty strong at the end. There is obviously some level of tyre management in MotoGP, especially at certain circuits, but it’s nothing like it is in World Superbike, and that means you have to attack a race in a completely different way.
“Over one lap, the difference between a MotoGP bike and a Superbike isn’t huge, but over race distance, it’s massive. It’s a completely different style of riding, and if I’m honest, it’s taken me some time to get my head around that.”
That different style of riding leads to a different style of racing.
“I think the rider can ride the bike a little bit more in WorldSBK,” he continues. “In MotoGP, it’s very much you ride X bike, and this is the way you have to ride it, whereas here there is a little bit of that but it’s not quite the same. I’d say MotoGP is more of a technical way of racing compared to Superbike, which is perhaps more racing in the traditional sense? It’s a bit more elbows out, which is both good and bad, but I personally enjoy it.”
Gardner’s transition from Grand Prix to Superbike hasn’t been straightforward, most of his rookie season with the GYTR GRT Yamaha team was spent trying to understand the different style of racing in Superbike but as that understanding started to come, so did the results. He narrowly missed out on a debut WorldSBK podium in the final race of 2023, but that’s a box he’s ticked in the first three rounds of 2024, taking third place last time out at Assen as he continues to progress towards the front.
“Coming from a different championship last year, there was a lot for me to get my head around,” he continued. “It almost felt like I was starting from scratch, learning everything again as most of what I knew from racing GP bikes didn’t apply here and that meant if we had a bit of a problem, it took a bit longer to work through with the boys in the garage because to me it was all new. But about halfway through last year, we managed to take a big step and from there on, we’ve just gradually got better and better as I’ve started to get a bit more understanding of what is needed here. How I can get the most out of the Yamaha, the Pirelli tyres, the electronics – everything. It feels like we’re just starting to come good, and the podium shows that, but of course, you always want more!”
